Police officers in the Tuzla Canton receive additional powers, based on changes to the law that will probably be adopted in the cantonal assembly. Among other things, they will be able to use a spray with an irritating substance, as well as a different form of use of force in actions.
Namely, the Government of Tuzla Canton established a proposal for amendments to the Cantonal Law on Police Officers. The proposal for amendments is the result of a public discussion that lasted 60 days, in which all relevant institutions and groups were involved.
As stated by the Government of TC, among other things, the amendments bring the law into line with the newly adopted Regulation on the uniform police uniform of the police forces in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as with the provisions of the Law on the Protection of Personal Data, where the processing of special categories of personal data is defined.
“In addition to the existing means of force, a spray with an irritating substance and means for violently opening and entering the premises were included as an additional means, which enables police officers to use this type of force by applying police powers within the legal framework, if it is estimated that with the same can achieve a legitimate goal”, the Government of TC clarified.
The inadequate term “seriously ill” in the context of the impossibility of using physical force and a baton against such a category of persons, has been replaced by the term “obviously ill”, for the reason that when using physical force and a baton, police officers are unable to assess which seriously ill persons these are , if such a situation is not obvious.
“Amendments to the law established the obligation of the minister to pass a by-law on the proposal of the director of the Police Administration, which will specify in more detail the incompatibility of the activities and functions of police officers with police duties, which is necessary due to the request of police officers to engage in additional activities,” it was stated.
The law harmonises the recruitment process of police officers with the Bologna system of studies, i.e. 180 or 240 ECTS study points of the Bologna system of study are prescribed as a condition for admission to the rank of junior inspector, and the sixth level of education as a condition for admission to the police body is abolished.
Also, other procedures in the recruitment of police officers are defined more precisely, and in addition, this process is made, as the government says, faster, simpler and more transparent, Klix.ba reports.
