What can be learned from previous security and defence operations? This chapter describes the EU Police Mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina (EUPM). This was the first European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP) operation and is still ongoing. The EUPM has helped transform the Bosnian police into a professional service and made progress in bringing institutions and practices into line with European norms. But shortcomings in law enforcement remain, including the high politics of police restructuring and the fight against organised crime and corruption.
After brutal ethnic war in Bosnia was brought to an end, the Bosnian police remained legally, politically and ethnically divided. The EUPM is a non-executive police mission whose police officers are unarmed. It has been prolonged twice since its inception in 2003, with changes designed to clarify and re-focus its mandate. Highlights of this mandate include: establishing a sustainable, professional and multiethnic police operating in accordance with European and international standards; contributing to overall development in the criminal justice system; and helping to identify remaining police development needs.
The EUPM demonstrated success in rendering the ESDP operational and helped transform the Bosnian police from an instrument of ethnic warfare into a professional service. It has also made significant progress in changing Bosnian policing mentalities, institutions and practices:
- The mission has made the local police more accountable, for example by setting up, training and mentoring internal control units which investigate misconduct. It has also professionalised police training.
- The mission has installed modern human resource management in the Bosnian police apparatus. This includes a gender and ethnicity-blind recruitment and promotion system.
- The Bosnian police also has a growing capacity to investigate organised crime and prosecutors have become better at successfully arguing their cases in court. Capacity-building measures have improved the way the police deals with crime scene management.
The Bosnian police has come a long way and the EUPM has played an important role in this development, but challenges remain:
- The domestic political environment has not been conducive to statebuilding reforms. Challenges include: the Dayton legacy with its weak state institutions and ethnically divided governance; politico-ethnic polarisation and distrust; the impact of the High Representative; and a combination of underdevelopment and donor fatigue.
- Law enforcement still faces serious structural problems. Police restructuring is incomplete. Political interference and high-level organised crime continues, especially in Republika Srpska. State institutions are hampered by a lack of manpower and resources.
- It would be unfair to blame shortcomings on the EUPM. They have complex causes and are located outside the policing field in the political, economic and cultural realms.
- These problems can only be tackled through further political and economic development. This requires long-term and comprehensive development efforts.
