Twenty Years Later: Community Policing and Its Impact on Local Safety in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Abstract

Twenty years after the introduction of the first community policing projects in Bosnia and Herzegovina, there is a need to evaluate the results achieved. This paper aims to identify the key challenges in implementing community policing and analyze its impact on the safety of local communities. This study employed a qualitative research approach, including semi-structured indepth interviews and secondary data analysis. Police officers from various agencies across Bosnia and Herzegovina were interviewed. International actors were pivotal in introducing the concept of community policing. Our findings highlight serious issues and the failure to adapt Western practices to the local cultural context. Despite the initial enthusiasm of international actors, community policing has not been fully integrated into the operational practices of local police forces, with only fragments of the concept being adopted. The decline of community policing, coupled with the erosion of effective policing practices in Bosnia and Herzegovina, has negatively impacted the efficiency of police work and, undoubtedly, the safety of local communities