Unionist Ćatić: Helicopter, auxiliary police, young officers, and the minister's evasion of the truth

(Patria) - The president of the Trade Union of Police Officers, Civil Servants, and Employees of Sarajevo Canton (KS) Viktor Ćatić lashed out tonight in a statement at the Minister of Internal Affairs of KS Admir Katica, accusing him of consciously evading the "essential difficulties" in the work of the Ministry he leads.

- Reading the minister's praises about a more professional police force than ever before, because it is being filled with young and educated personnel, I cannot help but notice that the minister is consciously evading the essential difficulties in the work of the ministry he leads - stated Ćatić.

He listed the difficulties as understaffing, lack of management, administrative, and police personnel at all levels of work in the Police Administration and the Ministry, then dilapidated and devastated facilities, non-existent new buildings... This situation has been ongoing for years, Ćatić adds.

- If it weren't so tragicomic, I would personally thank him for the salary increase for administration and police ranging from one to five percent - emphasizes Ćatić.

He stresses that the fact that the minister included in the Draft Law on Internal Affairs that the Helicopter Unit will be used minimally for police work in itself indicates that the helicopter will be used for transporting politicians to exotic and other destinations, and will be least used for the purposes for which it is intended.

- This particularly confirms my stance, which I also presented a few years ago - that the Helicopter Unit should be part of the Civil Protection, not the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

Given the scope and complexity of work in the police body, as well as the territorial size of KS, a helicopter is unnecessary for the police.

Unless someone planned to spend nearly 50 million KM in and in the way it was spent. This is, after all, defined that way in the Draft Law.

Auxiliary police will enter the annals of destructiveness and confusion in regulations as a proposal, because if this, as well as the Draft Law on Amendments to the Law on Police Officers of KS, passes, we will have to wait almost a year for its work to be regulated and detailed by a by-law.

It is also necessary to consider the complicated tender procedure that must be carried out to hire an auxiliary police officer.

Even if all of this went smoothly and without problems, it will take at least a year and a half from today for an auxiliary police officer to be hired. During that time, four generations of young police officers could emerge - says Ćatić.

According to him, the only realistic option is that behind such actions, retired MUP KS officers are trying to return to police service through the back door, who, through their actions and inactions, directly participated in and led to this bad situation, reducing the police service to a low level.

For comparison, Ćatić continues, the Draft Law of Federal Minister Ram Isak, which did not pass, and which defined something similar to auxiliary police, is a "flawless perfection" compared to this proposal.

- And finally, a concrete message to Minister Katica. When it comes to young police officers who are assimilated into police ranks through overproduction from the Police Academy without basic knowledge, for example, the definition of a traffic accident or a public place, or that they don't know how to disassemble an "AP M-70", but they know how to stop traffic and help an elderly person in need, for them, as well as for us, there is hope, God willing - concluded Viktor Ćatić in the statement.