Police in Sarajevo find only one in four stolen cars

Only one in four cars stolen in Sarajevo is returned to its owner, writes the BiH news agency Patria (NAP). According to statistical data from the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Sarajevo Canton, 430 motor vehicles were reported stolen in Sarajevo in the first six months of 2014, and only 108 vehicles were returned, or 25 percent of the total number of stolen vehicles.

Citizens blame the police for such a poor situation. Those whose vehicles were stolen claim that the police react slowly, lack a unified system between police stations in the country, and have very weak, or almost no, communication with the Border Police. Furthermore, citizens claim that the police most often know where stolen vehicles go, but are powerless to break up such car theft rings.

The MUP KS, however, claims that the situation is not as dire as it seems. Warrants for stolen vehicles are issued immediately after the owner reports it, and coordination between police agencies functions well.

- My car was stolen on June 19 this year in front of a Sarajevo hotel. No one called us for ransom. An inspector in Sarajevo advised me to call the State Border Service (DGS) and give them the car's details. I wondered if the police shouldn't do that? And indeed, after five days I found out that the car was in Serbia. A girl working at the DGS gave me that information. Two more vehicles were stolen that night in Sarajevo. Now I wonder how it's possible for a stolen car to leave the country?! Shouldn't DGS officers receive information about which vehicles were stolen, and monitor if they appear at the border – complained a reader.

The MUP KS claims that although statistical indicators show that their officers find only 25 percent of stolen motor vehicles, that number is much higher considering that a large number of dismantled cars have been found since the beginning of the year, the number of which will be known after the necessary expert examinations are completed. They also state that warrants for stolen vehicles are issued in record time, but it is often impossible to trace stolen vehicles.

- The procedure for issuing a search for stolen vehicles is such that immediately after the locally competent police station receives an official report from the legitimate owner that the vehicle has been stolen, such data is immediately entered into the unified database of stolen vehicles in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and thus, during checks in this database, they are visible to all police agencies, which means that a search for such a vehicle is issued immediately – claim the MUP KS for the Patria agency. However, they add that this is not the case when the owner or user of the stolen vehicle does not have the identification data for the stolen vehicle, such as the engine or chassis number, at the time of reporting the theft.

- In that case, there may be a delay in entering the data, and consequently in issuing a search for a particular vehicle, with the understanding that owners or users are expected to provide identification data for the stolen vehicle as soon as possible – state the MUP KS.

Communication between police agencies, the MUP KS further claims, is also good. It is carried out through the operational centers of police agencies by phone or existing communication systems.