In this statement, the World Police Counter-Terrorism Organisation CTO sets out its position on the current proposal to amend the Law on Police in order to stop those who misuse organisations’ membership badges as official IDs.
CTO welcomes the Ministry’s position that the appearance of membership badges needs to be clarified with the police unions, and that any imitation of the official IDs of Ministry of the Interior officers must be prevented.
On the other hand, we are against a complete ban on the format of the membership ID as a three-part document in a leather wallet. We see no reason why associations like ours should be targeted, when they have followed every legal procedure and have never sought any similarity in the design of their IDs – on the contrary, they insist that their IDs must be clearly different from the official IDs of Ministry officers, precisely to avoid this kind of confusion.
Citizens need to know their rights when authorised officials act towards them. That is exactly when the difference shows if someone is misusing a union or membership badge. Article 66 of the Law on Police clearly states that a police officer in plain clothes must identify themselves by showing their official ID and badge before exercising police powers. A police officer who is not abusing their powers – or anyone who is not misusing a union or membership ID – will not just flash it, but will show it to the person concerned so that they can see what is written on the ID and on the badge itself. Under this article, uniformed officers identify themselves with their official ID and badge only at the request of the person concerned. It is important to note that holders of union and membership badges and IDs do not have the status of authorised officials and must not exercise the powers that police officers do.
For years, our organisation and others in the civilian security sector have been actively holding public talks and seminars, constructively pointing out existing problems, and doing humanitarian work – both general and aimed at helping our brave fellow citizens who serve in the Ministry. Banning something that exists among professional associations in every country in the world except North Korea seems an utterly unnecessary and humiliating move.
Dragan Pantić, President of the World Police Counter-Terrorism Organisation CTO.