PPA calls for giving auxiliary officers traffic speed measuring powers
The Police and Border Guard Board (PPA) would like to grant auxiliary police personnel (abipolitseinik) the right to measure vehicle speeds, evening paper Õhtuleht reports on its website.
Õhtuleht says the PPA proposed the interior ministry rescind a government-ordered restriction which bars auxiliary police personnel from monitoring traffic speeds.
Since Section 193 of the Traffic Act stipulates an auxiliary police officer is a traffic supervisor in the sense of augmenting a regular PPA officer, then, following the logic of the legislation, an auxiliary police officer is not considered an official (Estonian: ametnik), hence the PPA do not currently use auxiliary police officers as speed monitors, the paper explained.
Abolishing the restriction would mean a slightly wider scope for the PPA in its traffic supervision activities since if assisted by an auxiliary in measuring speeds, necessary tasks could be alternated among staff, leading to a more reasonable distribution of workloads, Kristi Hallas, the PPA's deputy director general for development, noted in the proposal.
According to Õhtuleht, over the past year, 519 auxiliary policemen were involved in patrol activities, including those aimed at traffic supervision, across the four PPA prefectures nationwide.
Interior Minister Lauri Läänemets (SDE) told Õhtuleht that the proposal should definitely be discussed – he has his own experience as an auxiliary police officer and so is aware of the limitations placed on these personnel while at work.
Auxiliary police are volunteers, and often assist the regular PPA during major public events, for instance. The authority is wholly separate from the Municipal Police (Mupo) present in Tallinn.
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Editor: Andrew Whyte, Mait Ots
Source: Õhtuleht