Submit to the Politburo for decision to build the commune police as a regular force

Commune police (Illustration photo).

The report on the implementation of the Program on law and ordinance development and promulgation of documents detailing the implementation of laws and ordinances in the first quarter of 2018 sent by the Ministry of Justice to the Government stated the current situation of having to request withdrawal or postponement of the submission deadline for a number of draft laws under the 2018 Program such as the Law on Commune Police, the Law on amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Execution of Criminal Judgments and the Law on amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Environmental Protection Tax.

The withdrawal and postponement of the above draft laws are due to new and important issues that have not been implemented in practice, so more time is needed for research. For example, the issue of enforcement of sentences against commercial legal entities that commit crimes, conditional early release from prison (Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Enforcement of Criminal Judgments) or the addition of goods to the list of subjects subject to environmental protection tax requires more time for research, careful assessment of the impact on people and businesses, and must ensure feasibility during implementation (Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Environmental Protection Tax).

As for the draft Law on Commune Police, the reason the authorities withdrew from the program, according to the Ministry of Justice, is because the Project on perfecting the organization and apparatus of the Ministry of Public Security, which is being submitted to the Politburo for approval, has a new orientation on building the Commune Police force. Specifically, this will be a regular force, not a semi-professional force as it is now.

According to this project, it is necessary to include regulations on the communal police force in the Law on People's Public Security to ensure consistency in regulations on organizational principles, operations; functions, tasks, powers, regimes and policies for the police force.

Previously, Minister of Public Security To Lam announced that the major orientations of the above project include: Building a centralized, unified, specialized, streamlined organization of the Ministry of Public Security with effective and efficient operational focal points, strengthening the grassroots, in the direction of "Ministry refined, province strong, district comprehensive, commune close to the grassroots"; not organizing intermediate levels, improving the quality of departments under the Ministry; arranging and reducing public service units, press, health; merging 20 units of Fire Prevention and Fighting Police of provinces and centrally run cities with the Provincial and Municipal Police to ensure connection and maximize resources in performing tasks.

Build regular commune and town police, initially arrange regular commune police in key areas with complex security and order issues, and gradually implement uniformly nationwide when completing relevant legal documents.

Senior Lieutenant General To Lam affirmed that the implementation of the Project is consistent with the policies and resolutions on innovation, strengthening the leadership of the Party, innovating the organization of the political system, reducing intermediate levels in management; not affecting the functions and tasks of the People's Public Security. At the same time, it creates the most favorable conditions for arranging and readjusting forces, strengthening the direct combat force, focusing on the grassroots and arranging regular communal police.

“From there, the police force will be closer to the people, stick closer to the grassroots, grasp the situation and effectively resolve security and order issues right at the grassroots level; overcome overlaps and divisions, strengthen administrative reforms; create better conditions to focus on investment and modernize equipment and combat vehicles,” said the Minister of Public Security.