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A:
Community police to start working by end of 2009
Belgrade,
5 December 2008
Serbian Minister of Public Administration and Local Self-Government Milan Markovic today announced that community police, which will take care of citizens’ everyday problems, will start working by the end of 2009 and will have considerable authority.
Author:
Fonet
At a round table discussion themed “Community Police – New Jurisdiction of Towns”, held at the Sava Centre, at which a draft law on community police was presented, Markovic said that local self-government lacks an efficient service to deal with the problems of the grey market.
The Minister stressed that the aim of the law is to educate community police to provide more efficient working conditions for town authorities.
He said that community police will solve problems regarding public areas, rubbish, loud music and truck parking as well as other problems which local authorities are not responsible for and therefore are not able to make citizens respect the laws.
According to him, community police will wear uniforms but will be unarmed, probably carrying batons and pepper spray instead, as well as having their own vehicles and the authority to check people’s ID and temporarily confiscate their belongings. Markovic said that community police will have to undergo the Ministry of Interior’s training of up to six months, adding that the draft law will be forwarded to the Serbian parliament by the end of this year.
Special representative of the Council of Europe Secretary General Konstantin Yerokostopoulos said that the Council supports the process of decentralisation and strengthening local self-governments in Serbia within the recommendations of the 2007 Congress of Local and Regional Authorities. European Commission expert Tilo Moler emphasised that one of the EU’s basic principles is that the implementation of public policies should be in the hands of the local self-government and that the government should transfer authorisation to them wherever possible.
Head of the OSCE Democratisation Department Hannelore Valier said that the OSCE will endorse the implementation of the law on community police in all Serbian towns.
Expert Bogoljub Milosavljevic recalled that cities and towns, such as Belgrade, Sabac, Pozarevac and Smederevo, used to have community police from the 19th century up until World War Two.
The discussion was organised by the Ministry of Public Administration and Local Self-Government together with the Council of Europe Belgrade office. Representatives of towns and NGOs, as well as members of the working group which drafted the law also took part in the discussion.
The Minister stressed that the aim of the law is to educate community police to provide more efficient working conditions for town authorities.
He said that community police will solve problems regarding public areas, rubbish, loud music and truck parking as well as other problems which local authorities are not responsible for and therefore are not able to make citizens respect the laws.
According to him, community police will wear uniforms but will be unarmed, probably carrying batons and pepper spray instead, as well as having their own vehicles and the authority to check people’s ID and temporarily confiscate their belongings. Markovic said that community police will have to undergo the Ministry of Interior’s training of up to six months, adding that the draft law will be forwarded to the Serbian parliament by the end of this year.
Special representative of the Council of Europe Secretary General Konstantin Yerokostopoulos said that the Council supports the process of decentralisation and strengthening local self-governments in Serbia within the recommendations of the 2007 Congress of Local and Regional Authorities. European Commission expert Tilo Moler emphasised that one of the EU’s basic principles is that the implementation of public policies should be in the hands of the local self-government and that the government should transfer authorisation to them wherever possible.
Head of the OSCE Democratisation Department Hannelore Valier said that the OSCE will endorse the implementation of the law on community police in all Serbian towns.
Expert Bogoljub Milosavljevic recalled that cities and towns, such as Belgrade, Sabac, Pozarevac and Smederevo, used to have community police from the 19th century up until World War Two.
The discussion was organised by the Ministry of Public Administration and Local Self-Government together with the Council of Europe Belgrade office. Representatives of towns and NGOs, as well as members of the working group which drafted the law also took part in the discussion.
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