Bulgaria's Interior Minister will soon be able to use the military police force, according to amendments in the new Military Police Act, currently in the process of preparation.
The amendments will be discussed by the Members of the Parliament in September and provide that in times when there is no war, the military police would be able to assume tasks to counter crime and safeguard public order in Bulgaria, according to the Defense Ministry official website.
Once the bill is passed, the military police would receive orders from both the Defense and the Interior Ministers.
The Bulgarian military police currently has about 1 200 officers and its statute and duties are regulated by several articles in the Defense and Armed Forces Act.
According to the latest changes, the military police would deal with operational, search, anti-terrorist, investigative, controlling, security and convoy activities and with uncovering of crimes. It would also be able to use special spying devices and make arrests.
The MP from the ruling, center-right Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria (GERB) party, Vladimir Toshev, told Darik radio the latest amendments stem from several reasons: the work on the so-called White Book for the Development of Armed Forces, which Defense Minister, Gen. Anyu Angelov, has the ambition to submit it with the Parliament in September; the social reforms in the entire public sector, and upcoming structural changes in the military.
The amendments are put on the table eight months after GERB passed an entirely new Armed Forces Act.
Novinite
