Minister says Communal Police used force 16 times in Belgrade

NEWS 04.07.201919:14
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Serbian State Administration Minister Branko Ruzic said on Thursday that the Communal Police used force on 16 occasions in Belgrade in 2018, claiming that they never abused their powers.

“The example of Belgrade shows best that there was no abuse of powers. We had prevention: 14,000 warnings in 2018, 123,000 interventions and just 16 cases of use of force – eight cases of physical force, handcuffs seven times and batons once,” Ruzic told a parliamentary debate on amendments to the draft law on the Communal Militia.

 The Communal Police has to be renamed because the law on internal affairs reserve the name police for forces under its command.

He said video was taken of interventions over the past 10 years and added that audio recording would be introduced. Ruzic said that the communal police was formed to operate under the competencies of local administrations which the police can’t do. “Another reason (not to make the communal police part of the Internal Affairs Ministry) is to take some of the burden from the police,” the minister said.

He said that candidates have to undergo security and psychological tests and pass two and a half months of training before joining the communal militia, adding that this means none of them could jeopardize the safety of the population.