EUPM and OHR to commence public information road show on police restructuring

The EUPM public information campaign which was launched by the EUPM Commissioner,Kevin Carty, on the 15^th of February aims to inform the public of what is involved in the process of a single structure of policing, as well as what is not involved.

Commencing tomorrow, 11 March, EUPM will widen its campaign by the first of several public debates on police restructuring.  They will be held in the municipal buildings of several cities in the Republika Srpska entity, as well as in the BiH Federation.  The purpose of the debates will be to inform the public directly of what is involved in a single structure of policing and of the benefits police restructuring offers to the citizens of BiH. The public debates are being organised by the EUPM Working Group on Police Restructuring. The first of these debates, tomorrow, will be held in Bijeljina. The title of this part of the campaign is: ‘‘Public Information Road-Show on Police Restructuring’’. 

Public debates will be held almost every day in a different municipality across BiH . Each of the debates will see representatives of the EUPM Working Group and representatives of the OHR make presentations on the issues involved in a single structure of policing. They will answer any questions.

On the same day of the public debates a local radio programme will be organised in the same municipality by our colleagues from the OHR. The radio programmes will see presentations by EUPM and OHR, again on the issues of police restructuring. 

The public debates and radio programmes will also be advertised via local media to ensure members of the public are informed of the dates for each event.

In the next two weeks public debates are being organised in the following municipalities:

11 March – Bijelina

16 March – Bihac

17 March – Prijedor

18 March – Prnjavor

22 March  – Mostar

23 March  – Trebinje

24 March – Nevasinje

In summary the proposal made for a single structure of policing represents a major issue of reform in BiH. The EUPM believes that it is very important that the public are informed of what is involved and given as much opportunity as possible to ask questions. The EUPM encourages the citizens of BiH to attend the public debates and engage actively in the reform process.