Proposal to give guards the right to shoot

This is a new point in the draft Law on Security Guards submitted by Senior Lieutenant General To Lam, Minister of Public Security, to the Standing Committee of the National Assembly yesterday.

The draft Law on Guards proposes to add the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Chief Justice of the Supreme People's Court, and Chief Prosecutor of the Supreme People's Procuracy as the subjects of guarding.

Senior Lieutenant General To Lam, Minister of Public Security

Presenting this bill to the National Assembly Standing Committee this morning, Senior Lieutenant General To Lam, Minister of Public Security, said that the subjects of security are people holding high-ranking positions and titles of the Party, State and the Central Committee of the Vietnam Fatherland Front; and international guests visiting and working in Vietnam.

Specifically including: General Secretary, President, Prime Minister, Chairman of the National Assembly.

Also present are: former General Secretary, former President, former Prime Minister, former Chairman of the National Assembly; Politburo members; Party Central Committee Secretary; Chairman of the Vietnam Fatherland Front Central Committee, Vice President, Deputy Prime Minister, Vice Chairman of the National Assembly.

The bill also proposes to add the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Chief Justice of the Supreme People's Court and Chief Prosecutor of the Supreme People's Procuracy as the subjects of protection.

Do guards have the right to shoot?

A notable point in the draft is the regulation that officers, non-commissioned officers, and guards are allowed to use weapons to perform their duties and to shoot in the following cases:

To warn a subject who is breaking into a guarded area or target; To injure a subject who is breaking into a guarded area or target, after giving a stop signal and firing a warning shot but without success; To destroy a subject who is using weapons, explosives, flammable substances, support tools or other toxic substances to directly attack a guarded subject or a guard officer, non-commissioned officer or soldier on duty. Other cases of shooting are carried out in accordance with the provisions of law.

On the other hand, in urgent cases, to ensure absolute safety for the guarded subjects, officers, non-commissioned officers, and guards are allowed to mobilize people, requisition assets, and means of the armed forces, agencies, organizations, and individuals to carry out guarding work, except for cases where people, assets, and means belong to representative agencies of international organizations and those who enjoy diplomatic immunity, consular privileges and immunities according to the provisions of Vietnamese law and international treaties to which Vietnam is a member.

The Minister of Public Security added that because the guard force is a special force, the bill stipulates that the guard force is entitled to enjoy policies and regimes according to the law for officers, non-commissioned officers, and soldiers of the People's Public Security or officers, non-commissioned officers, and soldiers of the People's Army, and is entitled to allowances and special preferential regimes prescribed by the Government.

Representative of the inspection agency, Chairman of the National Assembly's Defense and Security Committee Vo Trong Viet proposed to keep the security guard subjects as current regulations.

Chairman of the National Assembly's Committee on National Defense and Security Vo Trong Viet

Mr. Vo Trong Viet said that if the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Chief Justice of the Supreme People's Court, and Chief Prosecutor of the Supreme People's Procuracy are added, a number of other ministerial positions such as Minister of National Defense and Minister of Public Security also have important positions and influence and must be added.

"This will increase the staff, structure, and organization of the security force and cause international public opinion to misunderstand that because security and order in Vietnam are complicated, the security force must be expanded," the Chairman of the National Assembly's Defense and Security Committee worried.

This Committee also found that the mobilization of people and assets by guards is necessary to ensure mobility, but can only be done in urgent cases while on duty to ensure absolute safety for the subject, and guards mobilizing people, assets, and vehicles must be responsible for their decisions.

Similarly, the use of weapons by guards while on duty is necessary to be proactive in situations because of the requirement to absolutely protect and ensure the safety of the guarded subject.

However, the Standing Committee of the National Assembly proposed to study and redesign this regulation to ensure strictness and avoid abuse.

According to Vietnamnet