On Thursday, a draft of the Assistant Police Officer Act was submitted for approval. Under the draft, the Ministry of the Interior plans to provide auxiliary police officers with more training and expand the range of tasks they are able to perform independently.

Under the draft bill, second and third-level auxiliary police officers would be given the right to stop private vehicles in exceptional cases without the need to be in uniform and without the presence or orders of a fully qualified police officer.

According to Nurmely Mitrahovitš, advisor on criminal and public order policy at the Ministry of the Interior, the change does not mean all auxiliary police officers will immediately start doing this.

"Auxiliary police officers, whether working with police officers or independently, always act under the guidance of the police and with the involvement of the police," Mitrahovitš said.

"It cannot be the case that they think :'Today the weather is nice, so I'll go and start doing something on my own.'" They always receive their assignments from the police," he added.

In most cases, the police conduct traffic surveillance operations openly. That is, from visibly marked police vehicles. However, Estonian traffic laws also allow them to do so covertly, in unmarked private vehicles.

"Sometimes, combined forms of traffic surveillance may be necessary, whereby one police vehicle is unmarked. It may, for example, be used to check whether someone is talking on a cell phone (while driving) in the city, which is actually not allowed. Then a little further away there will be another marked police vehicle that stops them. Now, auxiliary police officers will be given this ability and right," said Mitrahovitš.

According to Mitrahovitš, there are currently around 1,300 auxiliary police officers in Estonia, a quarter of whom, or about 300, are permitted to act independently.

Under the new law, auxiliary police officers would also be able to determine a person's level of intoxication on the spot using a breathalyzer, either when acting alone or together with a regular police officer.

Currently, auxiliary police officers do not have the right to measure intoxication levels with a more accurate breathalyzer, even when accompanied by a regular police officer.

According to Mitrahovitš, to do so, auxiliary officers will first receive additional training. Currently, auxiliary police officers undergo up to 40 academic hours of basic training.

"This includes a little practical training and theory – in the future, the volume will increase," said Mitrahovitš.

The Estonian Academy of Security Sciences (Sisekaitseakadeemia) will begin providing training to auxiliary police officers. "They will gain more knowledge and skills, but above all, practical training," explained Mitrahovitš.

 In September, the Ministry of the Interior sent the draft Assistant Police Officer Act for review. However, the Ministry of Justice did not approve it at that time.

According to Heddi Lutterus, deputy secretary general for legal policy at the Ministry of Justice, the previous draft did not strike a suitable balance between the need for background checks on candidates for auxiliary police officer roles and their rights to personal privacy.

"We must ensure that background checks do not interfere too extensively with people's private lives – and for that reason, last year we raised questions about how much data is needed about a person and from which sources person in order to ensure they are suitable for auxiliary police work," explained Lutterus.

"For example, is it necessary to check the data regarding a candidate's relatives, or what would checking social media data entail?" she said.

Lutterus expressed hope those comments have been taken into account in the new version of the draft, adding that the Ministry of Justice has not yet had time to review it.

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