Turkey's 'watchmen' want to be called 'guards'

Duvar English

Turkey's watchmen, pseudo-police officers, feel that their title doesn't represent their duties, and want to be called "neighborhood guards," "neighborhood police," "protection police" or "police aids," daily Birgün reported April 21.

A report titled "Assistive Policing in the Institutional Management of Security" by Police Academy Directorate inspected complaints received from Turkey's almost 30,000 watchmen.

Watchmen struggle with not having authority to grant administrative sanctions, which limits their ability to maintain public peace at times, the report noted.

"Watchmen don't have the authority to yield administrative sanctions to someone who's listening to music loudly late at night in a residential neighborhood," the report noted.

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"Granting watchmen the authority to grant administrative sanctions, which police officers have, might be a solution."

Watchmen sometimes experience resistance from citizens while trying to conduct body searches, the report added.

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"They encounter people who tell them to send the police in their place," the report said, adding that the public lacks awareness about the authorities and duties of watchmen.

Citizens in their 20s harbor particularly negative feelings about watchmen, and make it difficult for watchmen to conduct their duties, the report added.

"It's normal that young people don't have the nostalgic and positive feelings that middle aged citizens have, because they haven't personally observed or experiences the institution of watchmen."

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