They demand fight against terrorism and corruption, but block the law: Police are living harder and harder, injustice must be corrected urgently

The House of Peoples of the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH is expected on Thursday, September 28, to adopt in the second reading the Bill amending the Law on Salaries and Benefits in BiH Institutions, which aims to equalize coefficients for police officers with secondary vocational education with the coefficients of other employees in BiH institutions with this level of education, writes the news agency.

Although all politicians declaratively advocate for the fight against corruption and crime, it is unclear how they intend to establish a system without supporting the correction of injustice experienced by police officers at the state level. Namely, police officers in the State Investigation and Protection Agency (SIPA), the Directorate for the Coordination of Police Bodies (DKPT), and the BiH Border Police have salaries lower than police officers at other levels, by up to 500 KM, and for example, a secretary in state service has a higher salary than a police officer who arrests criminals, protects citizens and the state of BiH!?

For now, according to information available to the Patria agency, the Croat Caucus in the House of Peoples of the PSBiH is not inclined towards such changes, and they have reportedly requested that the law's application be postponed until January 1, 2019!?

It is also known that the BiH Minister of Finance, Vjekoslav Bevanda (HDZ BiH), has repeatedly emphasized that the amendments to this law must not jeopardize the budget of BiH institutions, as it concerns 3,149 police officers from law enforcement agencies in BiH.
However, such arguments are not sufficient, and the Alliance of Trade Unions of Police Bodies in BiH has repeatedly stated that it is regrettable that politicians are unwilling to give up even a single fening from their salaries and benefits, while asking them to protect them and fight against terrorism, organized crime, corruption, and cross-border smuggling and crime.

- They swear to European officials that they are ready to fight against organized crime and corruption, against terrorism, but they do not want to invest a single mark in the police at the BiH level - says the president of the SIPA Trade Union, Danijel Ilić.
It is clear to everyone that the police are not asking for too much or for what they do not deserve.

Money for them can be found within the existing framework of the BiH Institutions' budget. There is no need to increase the budget because of this, and then violate the reform agenda and the IMF's requirements.

For example, with small savings on phone bills, daily allowances, and official cars, money can be saved to equalize salaries.

Otherwise, according to the current Law, employees in BiH institutions with secondary vocational education have a coefficient of 1.40 to 1.60, while a police officer has 1.29!

- Considering the complexity, stress, and danger of police work, the Alliance of Trade Unions of Police Bodies in BiH proposes amending Article 18 of the Law on Salaries and Benefits in BiH Institutions in such a way that for police officers from the rank of police officer to the rank of senior sergeant, coefficients are determined – police officer 1.40, senior police officer 1.55, sergeant 1.70, senior sergeant 1.90 - the proposal states.