Albania Debates Recruiting Volunteers to Aid Police

The draft law on recruiting unpaid volunteers to work alongside Albania's police force and assist them in some of their duties is expected to be debated by MPs in parliament by the end of this week.

"The voluntary police officer is a volunteer who offers citizens and the state police help with enforcing the law, preventing crime and dealing with civil emergency," the draft says.

However, it does not detail what powers the volunteers will have or how many of them will be recruited. These issues will be decided by the Council of Ministers.

Volunteers assisting the police were commonplace during the 45 years of communist rule in Albania but the practice ended in the early 1990s.

Veli Myftaraj, a former general director of the state police, who started his career in 1973 in souther Albania town of Saranda during communism, recalls that at that time, people in the city assisted the force as volunteers.

"It was really very effective, we were supported by people who would generally will take of public order when cultural and sports activities were happening in Saranda," Myftaraj told BIRN.

"I'm really a big fan of volunteers helping the police and this is nothing to do with nostalgia for communism. This was a good part of that system and an effective initiative, so I'm glad that they have decided to bring it back," he added.

However, others were less enthusiastic about the initiative.

Arian Hoxha, the general secretary of the organisation Police Dismissed, which represents people who were sacked by the force in 2013 when the current goverment took power, said it would be better if the police got more resources

"It seems more a facade than an efficient initiative," Hoxha told BIRN.