TRAVEL REPORT The Hon. Michael Atkinson MP Attorney-General ...

There is great co-operation in fighting organised crime and drug crime . Inaddition to being a member of INTERPOL they also participate in a number ofother organisations . Perhaps the most notable is the European Commission'sCARDS program, which has allowed Croatia to develop strategic partnershipswith other countries to address specific areas of concern . There is acompetitive tendering process for all national policing programs . Austria andGermany are partners in border security and the U .K . is the partner in furtherdeveloping Analytics abilities .Most personal crime is drug related . Muggings are very common in additionto prolific armed robberies at betting offices, which as a general rule do nothave adequate security .The delegation inquired about which crime prevention programs are favouredand if there is any evidence of their success . Because the country has beenunder communism for 50 years, there is a lot of negativity towards the police .Despite the assistance the police provided during the war, goodwill from thoseefforts did not last . There is a move away from being part of the repressiveapparatus of the State, but the transformation will take time and requiresreform of the education and training of police . Their current basic goal isbuilding relationships with the community, which will need a huge culturechange in the police force .The older population thinks that the introduction of the rule of law hashampered the police's ability to deal with crime . A survey of 400 policeofficers was conducted and the question whether a police officer should behelping society and the people, or imposing authority, was asked . More thantwo-thirds responded that having an imposing authority was more important .So an intensive program of education was embarked on .There has been an explosion of graffiti which started in late 90s . In one senseit is seen as showing freedom from fear and oppression which existed underthe old system . Conversely, it shows that people are not able to function wellon the judicial level . There is still lack of co-operation between differentorganisations in combating the problem . There is no criminal act in place tospecifically address graffiti vandalism and impose penalties . Vandalising is acrime, but it is not considered severe enough to impose the required penaltiesfor the damage .There is a general frustration not only regarding these vandals but with thecrime situation in general . Croatia is soft on criminal activity compared withthe rest of Europe . A good example is the way the judicial system deals witheconomic crime, such as fraud in the privatisation process, evasion of taxesand money laundering . The courts recently sentenced someone who was thefirst person to face court from a group that defrauded the people of Croatia ofmore than $100,000,000 . He was also the first conviction in such a case andreceived a mere 8 years prison sentence . On the same day, the president ofEnron was sentenced for 250 years . The principal crime prevention programis the community-policing program . The goal is decentralisation of power to aTravel Report, Hon . Michael Atkinson, M.P. and Ms. Vini Ciccarello M.P., August, 2004 49