Press statement on community policing in Croatia

ZAGREB, 24 February 1999 - Some of the media have recently publicised misleading and alarmist views about the concept of 'community policing', in connection with the OSCE Mission. We wish to assure the public that community policing has been very widely adopted in democratic countries during recent decades.

Community policing means policing designed around the community it serves, rather than just using traditional policing methods. The purpose of community policing is for the local police to develop a partnership with the community that they serve, in order to identify and solve problems.

Community policing promotes better understanding of the community by the police, and better understanding of the police by the community. Such partnership improves communication and builds trust. It also enhances the sense of security and safety in communities.

The OSCE Mission has never suggested that either local or international police should become regular (let alone daily) instructors in schools. Rather, school visits by local police were recommended as one element of community policing, with officers occasionally visiting schools to discuss such subjects as traffic safety, drugs, firearms and the concept of community policing. Such visits have proven to be popular with children in many other European countries.

As a minor aspect of the community policing programme, OSCE police monitors have occasionally visited schools in order to tell children about the countries they come from and to explain what the OSCE is doing in Croatia.

The Ministry of the Interior has already introduced certain elements of community policing. The OSCE Mission has merely suggested ways in which this approach may be broadened. Indeed, school visits by police officers already take place in Croatia, but by officers from outside the community. Hence, the only innovation suggested by the Mission was that this programme should involve local police officers.