Macau | Role of police as victim and law enforcement agent against taxi infractions to be clarified

Macau (MNA) – The Commissioner of the Traffic Department of the Public Security Police Force (PSP), Ma Chio Hong (pictured, top) said the government will carry out studies over the Taxi Regulation bill to clarify if police officers who fall victim of a taxi infraction can also be the law enforcement agent against the law-breaker.

According to article 26, clause 2 of the Taxi Regulation bill, police officers and DSAT inspection staff would still be invested with authoritative power enabling them to perform arresting or fining when they are victims of an administrative infraction while on duty.

The Commissioner said the 3rd standing committee of the Legislative Assembly (AL), which is currently in charge of discussing the bill, said the committee members had raised concerns over the conflict of positions raised by the article in cases in which a police officer is both the victim and the law enforcement agent.

Ma said the original intention for laying out the rule was to monitor the execution of the regulation in a more comprehensive manner.

Doubts within the committee still persist about the power of authority of agents when these are off duty or undercover in cases in which they fall victim of infractions.