Establishment of better cooperation and coordination between all enforcement agencies in BiH and strengthening the capacity of the Directorate for the Coordination of Police Bodies of BiH (DPC) in accordance with the EU standards and best practices was the aim of the two-year long EU funded twinning project.
This project started in February 2012 and was initiated by the BiH authorities. The EU provided technical support for strengthening the DPC and funded this project worth 1.2 million euro from IPA 2008. The project was implemented by the Netherlands Police Agency (KLPD) and the DPC with the support of 50 experts from Poland, Romania, Slovenia and Europol.
Ambassador Peter Sorensen, Head of the EU Delegation to BiH/EUSR opened the official closing ceremony held today at the DPC’s HQ and said in his welcome remarks: “The DPC was designed to become a ‘centre of excellence’ for international police cooperation. The EU twinning project worked on preparing it for this task. There is still some work to be done to enable the Directorate to fully carry out its function as a focal point for international police cooperation.The European Union and the authorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina have jointly invested in building up the Directorate. We have put in both, political capital and financial means and we are jointly accountable for making this work. The European Union will continue our political dialogue and jointly discuss ways ahead to bring the law enforcement sector closer to the EU family.”
The main responsibility of the Directorate is to communicate, cooperate, and coordinate amongst police bodies in BiH. The Directorate is responsible for a 24-hour management of the Operational centre dealing with all security-related information relevant to BiH. This includes a network model for sharing information and intelligence and making country-wide threat assessments about organised crime and terrorism, International police cooperation through Interpol, Europol, SECI Centre and police liaison officers, Protection of VIPs and premises such as Embassies and Government buildings.
BiH Minister of Security, Fahrudin Radončić said: “We can proudly say that as a result of this two-year project we have more efficient system for collection, exchange and analysis of data, better international operational police cooperation and enhanced security of VIPs and facilities. “
Himzo Selimovic, Director of the DPC stated: “The Directorate has no investigative powers and as such is not a rival but rather service to other law enforcement agencies and the contributor to more efficient fight crime through communication, cooperation and coordination of the law enforcement in BiH and at the international level. These are the two areas which the twining project helped reinforce along with the enhancement of capacities in the field of VIP and facility protection.”
Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in BiH Jurriaan Kraak thanked the European Commission for the assistance to the police sector in BiH.
The ceremony concluded with the official inauguration of the situation room which will allow all law enforcement agencies in BiH to jointly react to public security and safety threats.
