The Council for Citizen Control of Police Work has determined, based on several well-known cases, the existence of unprofessional police practice that citizens are called to the official premises of the police to collect information without specifying the reason for the call, the Council announced today.
The announcement states that the Council for Citizen Control of Police Work, consisting of lawyer Zoran Čelebić, prof. Dr. Dražen Cerović, Ph.D. Branislav Radulović, Aida Petrović and Dr. Aleksandar Mugoša, acting on their own initiative, considered the police practice in connection with calling citizens to collect information and adopted, after the discussion, the appropriate conclusion and recommendation to the Police Directorate.
"Due to the collection of information, a concise and comprehensible explanation for summoning citizens is not enough. The Council warned the Police Directorate that, on this occasion, it is necessary to fully comply with the provisions of the Law on Internal Affairs and the Code of Criminal Procedure. The Council reminded that the Police Directorate can to summon citizens for the purpose of gathering information if this is necessary for the efficient performance of police work, but that the summons must indicate the specific reason for the summons. The council also reminded that a person who did not respond to a summons can only be forcibly brought if he was warned about it in the summons The existence of that essential element is recognized in the invitations sent from the organizational units of the Police Administration," the Council's announcement states.
They added that they indicated to the Police Directorate that, wherever possible, it should avoid calls with an "immediate" response deadline, but should indicate, among other things, the time and place at which it should be responded to.
"That is why the Council recommended that some time should be left for the citizen to consult/provide a lawyer if he wishes and come to the interview on his own, and police officers can offer transportation if needed, especially if the place of residence is outside the city," the Council's statement concludes.
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