Union of Police Bodies: Why was the Working Group formed at all if the Ministry does not respect its proposals

(Patria) - The Union of Police Bodies participated in the work of the Working Group formed by the Deputy Minister of Security of BiH, Ivica Bošnjak, which worked on harmonizing the Proposal for Amendments and Supplements to the Law on Police Officers.

These amendments and supplements to the law enable the recruitment of police officers from other police bodies and give police officers the possibility, if they have met the conditions for retirement and are not yet 65 years old, to continue performing police duties under certain conditions.

The Working Group unanimously determined the text of the amendments and accepted the suggestions of the Union representatives regarding the limitation of recruitment of police officers from other police bodies until the relevant position is attempted to be filled by internal transfer and promotion.

Only after that, if it was not possible to fill the position through an internal procedure, is the possibility of external recruitment through a public advertisement foreseen.

Also, at the initiative of the Union of Police Bodies, a clause was included in the proposal that defines the method of calculating the coefficient for pension calculation for police officers in a way that it is equalized with entity and cantonal police officers.

The Union's initiative for the age limit to be 60, not 65, was rejected, as was the proposal to limit the possibility of continuing work up to the rank of "senior sergeant", which would avoid the possibility of managers remaining in service.

However, the Proposal for the Law was published on e-consultations, which differs in Article 3 from the text of the Proposal for the Law determined by the Working Group.

The difference is in the proposed point 12 of Article 3, which, based on the harmonized text by the Working Group, among other things, foresees the following:

"… a police officer who completes 40 years of insurance service before reaching the age of 65, at his request, is allowed to continue working in the police body until reaching the age of 65…"

The Ministry of Security proposed the following text:

"… a police officer who completes 40 years of insurance service before reaching the age of 65, at his request, with the approval of the head of the police body, may be allowed to continue working in the police body until reaching the age of 65…"

In this regard, bearing in mind the Uniform Rules for Drafting Regulations, the Union proposes that the Ministry, in accordance with the conclusion of the Working Group, amend Article 3 of the proposed text of the Law, given that the proposed text, although considered at the meeting of the Working Group, did not receive the necessary majority.

The question arises as to the reason and why the Working Group was formed at all if the Ministry does not respect its harmonized proposals.

"Bearing in mind that the amendments proposed by the Ministry in the text published on e-consultations would allow discrimination of police officers, as it leaves it to the discretion of the manager as a discretionary right to approve the extension of work for one police officer and deny it to another, thus creating 'yes-men', we emphasize that the Union of Police Bodies will oppose the adoption of the said Proposal for Amendments and Supplements to the Law in every way and will inform all competent bodies in the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH about it", stated the Union of Police Bodies.