Šapić's "security service" can only walk around pretending to be the police

Mayor of Belgrade Aleksandar Šapić announced that the City will establish the Belgrade Security Service, which will assist police.

As Šapić explained, the Belgrade Security Service will have special agreements and contracts with the Belgrade Police.

"And we will try to relieve the Belgrade police." We think we will relieve her. Now each school yard has one policeman, they are under a heavy load and we want to help the Belgrade police so that they can do their work better and better and they will be closely connected with our Belgrade Security Service", said Šapić.

Members of the Belgrade Security Service, said Šapić, will not have the powers of the police, but will work in accordance with the legal powers that private security normally has.

As he explained, members of that service will patrol near schools and kindergartens during the day, and in Belgrade's neighborhoods at night.

Predrag Petrović from the Belgrade Center for Security Policy says that, according to what we heard from government representatives in the previous period, Belgrade does not need such additional security measures.

"Given that the government boasts that Belgrade is very safe and that crime has never been less in all of Serbia, there are no specific security reasons for the Belgrade Security Service," says Petrović.

"The police have the exclusive authority to take care of public order and peace, and this announcement that the new security service in Belgrade will also patrol the streets and around schools seems completely illegal." Those security guards can just walk around like any other citizen, but they can't exercise private security powers. "They can exercise their powers at events and public gatherings, but not patrol the streets," concludes Petrović.

Source: Today