Draft amendments to the Act on municipal guards - extension of powers and abolition of the age requirement

In the information published on Tuesday in the government's list of legislative works, attention was drawn to the need to adapt the regulations to current needs.

As emphasized, the current Act on municipal guards has been in force for 29 years, and its amendments so far have concerned only a limited scope, which - as we read - means that its provisions do not correspond to the current legal and organizational conditions of the functioning of municipal guards.

"In addition, the current practice of applying the Act has revealed numerous interpretation doubts hindering the uniform application of the provisions both by guards and local government units," it was written.

The proposal includes clarification that the municipal guard performs its tasks with respect for human and civil rights. It also specifies the obligation to notify the Police about the establishment or dissolution of a guard.

Currently, the act imposes an information obligation only towards the voivode, and the commune council, when establishing or disbanding the guard, seeks the opinion of the territorially competent provincial or capital police commander.

An extended catalog of direct coercive measures

According to the proposal, the catalog of direct coercion measures available to guards is to be expanded. Helmets and service horses will be added to it.

The scope of application of the power of municipal guards to demand that the owner or user of a vehicle indicate who he or she has entrusted with driving or using the vehicle for a specific time will also be broader - also in situations unrelated to road traffic control.

More powers for guards

The Road Traffic Act proposes to extend the powers to intervene against drivers who break road traffic regulations. This includes driving against traffic, driving along a pedestrian road or a pedestrian crossing, as well as polluting or littering the road.

The Act on maintaining cleanliness and order in municipalities proposes to extend the powers to intervene in the provisions regarding municipal management and waste disposal located on the controlled property. The guards will be able to oblige the property owner to collect municipal waste on his premises.

Issues relating to, among others: identification, apprehending persons posing a direct threat to human life or health, as well as to property and immediately taking them to the nearest Police unit, and establishing identity, will be transferred from the regulation to the Act.

The project also proposed extending the supervision carried out by the voivode in the scope of the use and use of firearms and means of direct coercion by municipal guards.

Guards will also be able to record, using technical means, images of the intervention along with the sound accompanying the intervention.

Abolition of the 21-year-old requirement

Public official protection will be extended to activities outside working time. In addition, the institution of reimbursement of costs of legal protection and provision of legal protection is to be introduced, which is to contribute to strengthening the legal protection of guards and encourage them to act.

Following the example of other services, it was proposed to abolish the 21-year requirement for people who can work in the municipal guard.

Additional paid leave of up to 5 days is to be introduced as a form of reward for the guard for exemplary performance of duties.