TOWARDS ESTABLISHING THE AUXILIARY POLICE IN THE REPUBLIC OF SERBIA
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.35120/sciencej0501125rKeywords:
public safety, policing, police, auxiliary policeAbstract
Ensuring public safety is a fundamental task of the police. To carry out certain police duties, in addition to engaging the regular (professional) police force, it is often necessary to engage a larger (additional) number of personnel and resources. The nature and scale of contemporary security challenges, risks, and threats require that, alongside the police, other social actors — including citizens — take on a more active role in ensuring both their own safety and the safety of others. One of the mechanisms for achieving this is the establishment or existence of a reserve or auxiliary police force. The experiences of certain countries show that there are various models or forms of auxiliary police, which differ primarily in their purpose, role, and degree of integration within the overall police system.
In the Republic of Serbia, in addition to the police, other actors also participate in maintaining public safety — such as the municipal police (a specialized body established within certain units of local self-government) and private security services. One possibility that includes the involvement of citizens in carrying out certain police tasks is their engagement through the auxiliary police, which may be formed in accordance with the Law on Police from 2016. The concept of auxiliary police is a kind of successor to the institution of the so-called reserve police force, which was regulated by the Law on Internal Affairs from 1991. After that law ceased to be in force, the formation of the auxiliary police was initially governed by the Law on Police from 2005, and later by the aforementioned 2016 Law. The detailed conditions for the formation of the auxiliary police were regulated by specific regulations adopted pursuant to these laws. Currently, within the legal framework of the Republic of Serbia, there is no regulation that would regulate in more detail the establishment of an auxiliary police force, and therefore, no such force exists at present. In this context, the paper will include a critical analysis of the aforementioned regulations, with the aim of proposing certain de lege ferenda solutions that would create the legal basis for the formation of an auxiliary police force.
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