Mission MAG 14.qxp - European Union Police Mission in Bosnia ...

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Zoom on Legal Department Last meeting of the CLoPO Working Group Harmony in complexity With 15 police bodies and as many different legislations, country-wide cooperation in the fight against crime is considerably impeded. Pending the implementation of police reform, the harmonization of this fragmented system is our Legal Department's daily concern. And our Legal Advisers BiH's 15 police bodies: State-level: - SIPA - SBS Entity level: - Federation - Republika Srpska - Brcko District Cantonal Level: - Una-Sana Canton - Posavina Canton - Tuzla Canton - Zenica-Doboj Canton - Bosnian Podrinje Canton - Central Bosnia Canton - Herzegovina-Neretva Canton - West Herzegovina Canton - Canton Sarajevo - West Bosnia Canton have made a lot of progress since they started 'assembling the puzzle' in EUPM's early days, back in 2003. A legal think-tank Because of this constant need for a harmonization of the complex legal system of the country, the majority of the Legal Department's staff is located in Sarajevo, at the EUPM Headquarters. "Since our main goal is to give out consistent legal advice, the most important thing is to be centralized," explains Tatiana Jancewicz, the Deputy Head of the Department. This is why Reyes Charle Cuellar, our Legal Adviser to the Mostar and Sarajevo Regions, and Eric Frejabue, who is in charge of the Banja Luka and Tuzla regions, also both work from the Sarajevo Headquarters. Once a week, the Head of the Legal Department, Hans Hygen, gathers his staff to analyze upcoming trends, best practices or problems. "We are the think-tank of the legal department," Tatiana explains. "We process and centralize all the information we get and spot out whether there are any problematic legal provisions and whether any adjustments are needed." Of course, the think-tank relies to a great extent on information provided by the national legal advisers in the field. "They have great relationships with our counterparts," says Tatiana. "They have a great institutional memory and they are of great help to law enforcement agencies throughout the country. Whatever they do, police officers deal with the law, and they can constantly rely on our assistance thanks to our people in the field." CLoPO, a success story The Legal Department greatly widely contributed to the country-wide harmonization of legislation regulating police powers and the employment status of police officials. Six out of ten cantons have enacted the Cantonal Law on Police Officials or CLoPO, while the others are in the process of doing so. "These are tangible results," insists Tatiana. "We have offered assistance at every stage of this harmonization process, * The All Commissioners Meeting gathers all 10 Cantonal Police Commissioners once a month. It is not institutionalized, but rather a voluntary expression of cooperation and coordination amongst the Cantonal MoIs and Federation Administration of Police. The initiative came form the Federation Director of Police (at the time Zlatko Miletic). The meetings discuss and coordinate various common issues and normally address joint initiatives towards local institutions/bodies and IC organisations, mostly EUPM. 4 www.eupm.org European Union Police Mission
facilitating the development of a 'template' law and holding numerous sessions with our local counterparts in order to find a common ground in compliance with EU principles." As a next step, 24 complementary bylaws are being developed on internal disciplinary procedure and external accountability mechanisms, rank allocations and conditions for promotion, special powers, as well as police officials' salary calculation. In parallel to these efforts, the Legal Department is mentoring the drafting of Laws on Police Officials (LoPOs) for the Republika Srpska and the Brcko District, which also require harmonization. "This is to make sure that all police officers enjoy the same working relations and police powers," concludes Tatiana. "Our department's main concern is to make sure that we promote the same legal standards or hardcore principles whether at cantonal, entity or state level." From CLoPOs to CLIAs… The most pronounced abbreviation within the Legal Department may soon be CLIAs rather than CLoPOs. On 24 January the All Police Commissioners Meeting* asked EUPM to host a working group with representatives of Cantonal Ministers of Interior in order to draft amendments to the Cantonal Laws on Internal Affairs (CLIAs). As some of the issues regulated in the CLoPOs were previously regulated in the CLIAs, it goes without saying that the latter need to be amended. But amendments to the CLIAs and other internal affairs in the Cantons were specially forbidden by the so-called 'moratorium letter' that was signed by EUPM and OHR in December 2004 to preserve the achievements made by the local police with the assistance of the United Nations' International Police Task Force (IPTF). The moratorium was lifted on 15 February, and the Legal Department will now start assisting their local counterparts to amend the CLIAs in compliance with European best practices and in a harmonized way. By Ann Vaessen NEW COLLEAGUES JOIN THE MISSION FOR 2007 Sven Olof Aberg has been appointed to the EUPM as a crime adviser based at the Tuzla regional office. He has almost completed 36 years police service, previously working as a force. Investigator in a small town called Ockelbo, which consists of approx 5000 inhabitants. He is 56 years of age, with one daughter and a grandchild of 4 years. He previously served on a number of missions, namely: 1980-81 UNFICYP (Cyprus), 1991-92 UNFICYP, 1995-96 UNPROFOR (Croatia), and finally in 1998, where he spent 6 months with the OSCE in Croatia as a Police-monitor. The mission gives a warm welcome to the following colleagues who have recently arrived as part of the British, French, Swedish and Czech contingents. Frederic Rivat describes himself as nearing 49 years of age, married with 3 daughters. He has more than 28 years experience serving as a police officer in the French gendarmerie. Throughout his career, he has worked in several investigative positions and was employed as a station commander prior to this mission. He currently holds the rank of Lieutenant. He has an exhaustive list of previous missions, six in total, serving with both the United Nations and the EU prior to this one: Lebanon 86/87, Bosnia 92/93, Bosnia 96, Kosovo 01/02, Bosnia 03/04/05, Haiti 05/06 and finally Bosnia once again, arriving on the 27th January 2007. David Ian Scott is a detective from the North East of England with 27 years police experience. He is married, with 3 children, the oldest of which, his daughter (21years) is completing a golf scholarship in the USA. His two sons still live at home. Back in the UK, he was the head of a serious crime unit investigating major and organised criminal networks, using conventional and technical techniques. Whilst he appreciates all varieties of sport, he specifically follows the fortunes of what he hopes may one day be the future holders of the European Champions League trophy in football - Newcastle United F.C. Certainly not this year, and as they say - probably next mission!! Vladimira Rehackova works as a Criminal Investigator within the Central Criminal Investigation Unit based at the Police Presidium in Prague. Her rank is Lieutenant- Colonel and she is also the Czech Contingent Commander within the Mission. She previously served for two years with the UNMIK in Kosovo (2003 - 2005), initially working as a War Crime Investigator, and then finishing her secondment as Commander of the Central Criminal Investigation Unit in Pristina. By Mark Wise The Mission Mag is produced by the EUPM PRESS AND PUBLIC INFORMATION DEPARTMENT (PPID) Editor-in-Chief: Kilian Wahl, e-mail: kwahl@eupm.org, phone: + 387 33 752 766, fax: + 387 33 752 759 Editor: Ann Vaessen, e-mail: avaessen@eupm.org, phone: +387 33 752 760, fax: +387 33 752 759
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