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British bobbies join Kosovo aid effort

More British police officers will soon be on their way to Kosovo to help restore law and order.They will join colleagues who are already there investigating war crimes.

Forty officers from forces around Britain have volunteered to help the United Nations (UN) set up a locally based police force for Kosovo.

Their mission is to recruit and train potential officers and eventually monitor their performance.

Britain has a tradition of unarmed policing so the volunteers will not take part in armed patrolling. That will be left to officers from other countries helping the UN effort.

British police and forensic scientists were among the first to enter Kosovo when the fighting ended, and as the hunt for war criminals got underway.

The senior Scotland Yard detective who led the first team in has been speaking to News Online about his experiences in Kosovo.

Detective Chief Superintendent John Bunn, of the Metropolitan Police's Anti-Terrorist Branch, has years of experience of IRA investigations.

His job in Kosovo, together with his team of pathologists, anthropologists and scene of crime experts, was to gather evidence for the International War Crimes Tribunal in the Hague.

They had to map, photograph, and record sites where atrocities took place. Then they had to exhume the bodies.

Superintendent Bunn believes their work was successful.

"In my opinion, we have provided evidence of the highest standard.

Evidence for tribunal

"But it is now up to the War Crimes Tribunal to decide what to do with it

"We hope that in time it will be used against people indicted, and it will stand up to vigorous cross examination"

There were plenty of problems for the investigators. This included the heat, logistical difficulties but most of all the dangers.

"We had to make the sites safe before we could start work," said Superintendent Bunn.

" Not only were there unexploded bombs and shells but the Serbs had also left booby traps at the grave sites.

"These were clearly designed to kill or maim amyone who came to the graves, either to try and reclaim the bodies or to investigate how these people died.

"Our investigation was a challenge and a very different type of challenge to what I am usually confronted with.

" But I believe it is very worthwhile. We came back feeling we had done a very good job . We approached it in a very meticulous, step by step way. Exactly as we would a murder in London"

Six countries have sent forensic teams to Kosovo as part of the International War Crimes Tribunal's campaign to bring people to justice for atrocities committed in Kosovo.

President Slobodan Milosevic and four of his associates are among those indicted so far.

The International War Crimes Tribunal hopes that the efforts of British police officers and experts will help bring many others to trial.

Relevant Stories

Massacre probe delays Serb funerals (26 Jul 99 | Europe)
Kosovo: Investigating the killings (22 Jul 99 | Europe)
Milosevic Indictment: Text (27 May 99 | Europe)
The forensics of investigating war crimes (21 Jan 99 | Europe)

Internet Links

Serb Ministry of Information
Official NATO site
UN in Kosovo
Kosovo Crisis Centre
The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia

The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

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