Policy Translation and Community Policing from the ‘Bottom-Up’ in Bosnia-Herzegovina

Abstract

This article reflects on the implementation of a Swiss community policing project in Sarajevo Canton, Bosnia-Herzegovina to explore how police practitioners might support the development of partnership-based policing models in a transitional society. It uses the concept of ‘policy translation’ to illustrate the potential benefits and challenges of situated agency by contrasting the approaches of two ‘specialist’ units to implementing the reform in different sectors. Motivated officers from RPZ1 made important progress towards nurturing the idea of partnership and promoting an enhanced public image for the Sarajevo Canton Police while their counterparts in RPZ2 failed to match their success due to contextual obstacles and limited enthusiasm. My analysis theorises the ability of motivated officers to renegotiate police culture and support the development of democratically responsive policing models ‘from the bottom up’.