Proposition 51K1880

Projet de loi relatif aux agents de police, à leurs compétences et aux conditions d'exercice de leurs missions.

General information ¶

Submitted by

PS | SP MR Open Vld Vooruit Purple Ⅰ

Submission date

June 21, 2005

Official page

Visit

Status

Adopted

Requirement

Simple

Subjects

police

Voting ¶

Voted to adopt

CD&V Vooruit Ecolo LE PS | SP Open Vld N-VA MR FN VB

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Discussion ¶

Feb. 9, 2006 | Plenary session (Chamber of representatives)

Full source

The Internal Affairs Committee met on this bill on 18 and 25 January.

In the introductory presentation, the Minister of Internal Affairs referred to the ambition from the government agreement to make 2,500 additional agents employable. As a result, assistants will be given more powers within the framework of the road traffic police, such as the submission of the driver’s license, the imposition of a breath test and the determination of an accident. Assistant officers shall also be empowered to assist police inspectors in the transfer of persons held in administrative custody, in searches, in the search of buildings and vehicles and in the surveillance of persons held in administrative or judicial custody.

In order to fulfill these new tasks, the assistants must also meet a number of additional conditions. They must be in possession of an identity card. There is a regulation on civil liability and legal assistance and there is, among other things, the duty of secrecy. The territorial jurisdiction of the aid officers shall be extended to the entire police zone.

Mr. Maene of the PS stated that his group’s bill also intends to expand the powers of aid agents, but is behind the government’s draft.

Mr De Padt, who am I myself, asked whether assistants could also be employed in granting the strong arm to court enforcers charged with the execution of a judgment or in arrest in the context of adultery. In addition, he submitted a number of amendments to change the name of auxiliary agent to police officer. Now that the assistants receive additional powers and the minimum degree of inspector in the integrated police statute, the assistants deserve a new name, which can be felt as less degrading.

Mr Claes of CD&V was positive about the design, but formulated a number of questions. First, will the assistants get another uniform? Secondly, do the aid guards have specific weapons equipment? Third, do the assistants receive additional training?

Mr. De Man van het Vlaams Belang asked questions about the exact number of assistants and the duration of the training.

Mr. Arens of cdH wondered whether the aid agents are also competent within the framework of municipal administrative sanctions.

The Minister replicated that he is in favour of the amendment, but that all legal provisions containing the term auxiliary pagent should be amended. The assistants can provide the strong arm by providing assistance to a police inspector. However, the deployment of aid agents or other police officers is only indicated in case of an increased risk. The Minister believes that the distinction in uniform between aid guards and inspectors should be ⁇ ined. No separate weapons are provided.

Currently there are 1,604 assistants. They follow a training of 455 to 510 hours. They are competent within the framework of municipal administrative sanctions. This requires specific training. Finally, the Minister is prepared to review the law after a few years. The bill, including the amendments, was approved unanimously. I will speak on behalf of my group.

First close the report.

I thank the reporter.

Now you are speaking as a spokesman for your group.

Our group fully supports the bill. It is entirely in the spirit of the government agreement, which wants to make the police more visible and reduce the staff shortage in some zones.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs has already implemented a series of measures for this purpose.

First, the general reserve of the federal police was expanded. It supports local police zones in demonstrations that require a greater engagement of people and resources. We are talking about risky football matches.

Second, the Federal Security Corps is responsible for the transportation of detainees from and to the penitentiary institutions and for the surveillance of the courts and courts. In this way, the local police are once again relieved of a very time-consuming activity.

Third, where possible, police zones should cooperate and establish cross-zone cooperation unions.

Fourth, certain, not strictly police tasks may be carried out by other security partners. In this perspective, the powers of private surveillance agents were expanded.

Fifth, and finally, the aid officers are now given a lot more powers so that they can assist the police officers who are active on the ground.

Colleagues, the assistants are increasingly becoming a full-fledged actor in the police work. VLD is therefore not deaf to the desires of the aid agents regarding a name change. The measure has no budgetary consequences for the government, but respects the deployment of the aid agents, from now on police officers. The VLD also submitted another amendment. The purpose of the amendment is to give the police officers explicit authority to determine violations of the municipal parking regulations.

Since the entry into force of the law of 7 March 2003 containing various provisions on road safety, parking with limited parking time, paying parking and residential parking have been removed from the criminal sphere. Even if the members of the police, according to the provisions of the Road Code, remained authorized to monitor the observance of the laws and regulations on the road traffic police, yet it appears that the legislator intended to exempt the police from the aforementioned matter and therefore to tax other persons and bodies with it. We think of municipal officials and/or private companies. The purpose is to allow police officers to devote themselves to their core tasks.

Nevertheless, it is advisable that aid agents can be charged with the matter. The second report of the committee on Assistance of the Police Reform at Local Level supports the proposal, conferator the recommendation of the committee that the assistants could continue to exercise parking control. Furthermore, it is recommended that the task be more clearly anchored in the competence package of the assistants.

The municipalities therefore continue to have the choice to either deploy their own control personnel, or to resort to a surveillance firm, or even to resort to the police assistants of the police zone to which the municipality belongs.

Colleagues, it is clear that VLD is pleased with the bill. It will increase the operational employability of the police services, making the police more visible on the street. "More blue on the streets" is more than a loos credo.

Mr. Speaker, Mr. Speaker, Mr. Speaker, Mr. Speaker, Mr. Speaker, Mr. Speaker, Mr. Speaker, Mr. Speaker, Mr. Speaker, Mr. Speaker, Mr. De Padt in his excellent report, this bill was adopted by the Interior Committee unanimously as it constitutes an interesting move forward. The bill clarifies the role and skills of the police assistants, which we will now call “police officers”. Indeed, the committee agreed that it was good to change the situation; as there are no longer police officers, the auxiliaries will now bear this designation, which strengthens their title but also their tasks on the ground.

What are the main improvements made to the function?

Police officers are obtaining full powers in the case of traffic violations, which confirms provisions we had previously adopted.

Police officers will be able to assist police inspectors during regular police missions. The provisions we will vote on will give greater legal certainty to the acts carried out by these agents, while recalling that the assistance provided by police officers will always be under the responsibility of the police officer who requested it.

Police auxiliary officers will enjoy competence across the entire territory, which will enable these officers to engage in interzonal actions and thus promote cooperation between police areas. We know how important and interesting this cooperation is by the possible synergies in certain subregions.

In terms of the statute, the bill enshrines the primacy of the statutory commitment of police officers and will limit their contractual commitment under certain precise conditions. This will, of course, contribute to sustain their employment, but above all to ensure greater stability in the tasks they are called to carry out for the benefit of the population on a daily basis.

I also well noted that police areas can hire police officers using the funds provided by the Penalty Fund. by

Finally, from now on, the federal police will also be able to recruit police officers, which constitutes a progress to enhance certain services, including the technical and scientific police. by

The Socialist Group is pleased that the bill incorporates the important elements of the bill submitted by MM. Charles Picqué and Claude Eerdekens, in June 2004. I had the pleasure of repeating this text with my colleague Talbia Belhouari. by

The legal provisions we will adopt will improve the work of police officers by clarifying their tasks both for themselves, for police areas but also for citizens.

I would like to share some additional thoughts.

In 1995, ten years ago, Committee P had devoted a chapter of its annual report to an analysis of the situation of police auxiliaries. As far as I know, there has been nothing since then and it would be interesting to have a photograph of the situation. In fact, the police areas all need auxiliary personnel with prerogatives that allow them to effectively perform their tasks, including the repression of incivilities and the exercise of administrative sanctions, which involves, in some cases, to request the identity card, to retain the person, to seize the objects of the crime.

I think the text we are going to adopt is an important step forward.

The ideal is, of course, the involvement of police officers but the latter have a cost and some more unfinished areas have to settle with APS, which is far from satisfying. In this regard, I would like to remind you of the latest recommendations made by the Committee P on these preventive auxiliaries.

The next debate will focus on the necessary clarification of the status, recruitment, training, tasks and skills of these other police auxiliaries that are the APS, such as park guards, security officers who collect parking fees, authorized supervisors, etc. I think it will also be necessary to open the debate as regards them.

The conditions of recruitment of police officers are less restrictive than those of inspectors, allowing the involvement of low-skilled persons and persons from immigrant communities. This represents for us an element of realization of the neighborhood police or community police.

In addition, the role of police officer can be a sass for the accession of these persons to the role of inspector. Particular attention should be paid to this. You know our concern to allow for diversity within the police services.

Finally, I would like to emphasize that he is pleased to see the continuing concern to improve the overall framework of our police operation. Last week, we already voted on a text regarding the evaluation of staff. Today, it is another step forward that allows the extensive police reform, initiated some time ago, to continue to evolve.

Following Mr. Claes’s argument in the general discussion, I will close the general discussion, unless the Minister wishes to add something.

There may be further questions, Mr. Minister.

First and foremost, I would like to thank Mr De Padt for his extensive report. Their

Mr. De Padt, at the end of your speech you talked about more blue on the street. I hope that you are not too busy with the municipal council elections in Geraardsbergen and that you mean more police on the streets.

Mr. Minister, the extension of the powers of the aid agents, who will now also be called agents, has already been repeatedly announced. This is somewhat surprising, as the draft was finally unanimously adopted in the committee. In fact, there were no problems to expect. There was, and there is, a great consensus on this point. It only took a long time before the government came up with a draft to Parliament. I know it happened in June 2005, but it still took a while before it was treated. However, it is these kinds of changes that should give our police services more power and increase the availability of police personnel. They will do that too.

I would also like to emphasize once again that we have submitted and signed the amendment of Mr De Padt, to make assistants agents. After all, the design also offers a number of positive contributions. From now on, the agents will be able to be deployed in relation to traffic maintenance, although this was already the case before, but now there is ⁇ clarity about it. They will also be able to assist police officers in various of their duties, but always under the authority of that official. The draft also confirms that the agents are members of the operational framework of the police services, but that they are not police officers and therefore will only enjoy a limited police authority. They can stop a person or a vehicle and use force to do so. This can only be done in heterosexuality. They will be able to be deployed in the same territorial area as the police officers, which has already caused many difficulties in the past.

However, I have some doubts about the unknown. During the discussion in the committee, we also pointed out that some caution around the functioning of these agents is still necessary. They will now have more powers and can also use coercion in certain cases, even though they are not police officers. For the ordinary man on the street, this can happen confusingly. Let us also not forget that the officers are not armed. However, there will be a certain field of tension between unarmed action and additional powers and tasks. We will have to keep a close eye on this. I therefore think that this fact will need to be sufficiently taken into account in the training and that in the future, ⁇ , the necessary defence resources should be made available.

We are therefore pleased that the Minister agreed to evaluate the functioning of the agents one year after the entry into force of the law. Personally, I think that one will not be able to do anything but move to a certain arms of the officers. The main questions here are certain whether the agents have not exceeded their powers and whether their integrity has not been compromised by the expansion. Of course, we will remind the Minister at the appropriate time of the commitment of the interpellation.

Mr. Minister, I can tell you that our group has supported the draft and also all amendments and will do so later in the vote.

I would like to thank the speakers for their support for the draft. I have already told Mr Claes in the committee that the text was actually delivered to Parliament in June 2005. It has been hanging in the committee for a while. It is not up to the government.

It also provides for better protection for the officers. They enjoy the same legal protection as police officers. They are better protected than they are now. They will be able to use pepper spray, handbags and so on. Their training will also be adapted to the extension of their powers.

Indeed, it does not seem to me to be an unnecessary luxury to review the case in a year, if something has been evaluated, and to modify the law if necessary. I had committed myself to that.