Police Reform Amid Transition: The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Serbia

Abstract

Overcoming the legacy of the past is never easy. Add in a brewing ethnic conflict in the south, and the task of supporting the institutional transition from a politicised and autocratic police force into a viable and democratic police service and you begin to understand the daunting task facing the Serbian government and its partner, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in the months following the overthrow of the Milosevic regime in October 2000. The OSCE's role as an independent broker was essential in negotiating a path between a demoralised and outdated police force and a sceptical, untrusting public. Now some six years since the start of the police reform process, it is safe to say that the police service in Serbia today is distinctly different from the one that was inherited from the Milosevic government. Much, however, remains to be done for it to be a truly modern, representative and democratic service. This paper provides an ‘inside’ take on the OSCE's engagement with the Serbian police reform process, its institutional strengths and limitations. Through the lens of the years 2000–2004, this paper will critique the ability of the OSCE to support police and security reform processes. As such the article will assess how the OSCE and the Serbian authorities responded to the challenges facing the policing sector in the post-Milosevic Serbia.