Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung signed an order to mobilise regional police in order to combat chaotic traffic jams and maintain traffic order.

Decree 27/2010/ND-CP, which was signed on March 24, will take effect on June 1.

According to the decree, the Road Traffic Police Department will be supported by police forces from the country’s provinces and districts. They will be assembled for patrol during cases of extreme disorder, especially during the 1,000th anniversary Thang Long – Ha Noi and this year’s socio-political events.

Four authoritative bodies will be in charge of assembling and dispatching the supporting police forces during necessary occasions. Authority has been granted to the Chairman of the Ministry of Public Security; the administrative manager of the Public Security Ministry’s Office; the police chief and provincial police forces; and the police chief of districts. They will also be responsible for managing patrol and inspection plans.

The support police forces, which will be supervised by the Road Traffic Police Department, have the right to fine traffic violators.

Dispatched officers without the supervision of higher-ranking officers from the Road Traffic Police Department will be allowed to fine traffic violators. In the event that specific violations exceed the assigned powers of present officers, financial penalty records will have to be made and submitted to higher authorities.

Traffic and security offences have been occurring not only in major cities and on crammed routes, but also in rural areas. Rural areas have a lack of officers from the Road Traffic Police Department since they primarily work in larger cities and on central roads.

The newly signed decree is expected to solve this problem in areas where there is only a small number of police.

Major General Dong Dai Loc, Chief of Thanh Hoa Province’s Police Department, said that the Decree was inspired by a model established by the province of Thanh Hoa in 2007.

Loc said that Thanh Hoa only had 350 officers from the Road Traffic Police Department but up to 7,000 support police officers in the province’s towns and districts.

“Most of the violations, such as driving without licences, came from smaller towns and villages so we gave regional officers the right to fine, and the number of violations decreased significantly.”

Within the first six months of 2007, the province reported a reduction of 54 accidents and 61 casualties compared with the same period from the previous year. Billions of dong were saved for the Government and the province’s citizens.

“It is important to raise citizens’ traffic responsibilities on a local level,” said Loc. If order is restored in smaller towns, the number of violations will reduce on the larger cities’ main routes.”

Following Thanh Hoa’s example, districts in Lao Cai, Nghe An, Quang Binh and Tien Giang provinces are also giving more power to their regional police forces to enhance traffic security and order. The experience from these provinces proved that the active participation of other police forces, rather than just patrols from traffic police, prompted citizens to obey the law.

Source: VietNamNet/Viet Nam News