The Legislative Assembly (AL) passed Tuesday a government-initiated bill regulating the operation of the Public Security Police (PSP), which aims to help the police cope with the rising pressure caused by the city’s constant development when carrying out their duties to maintain public security and law enforcement tasks.
The new PSP law is to replace a decree-law regulating the PSP operation promulgated in 1995 when Macau was still under Portuguese administration.
The new PSP law will take legal effect the next day after its promulgation in the Official Gazette (BO).
The bill’s outline was passed during a plenary session of the legislature in October. The legislature’s 3rd Standing Committee held four meetings to review the bill.
Secretary for Security Wong Sio Chak attended the plenary session when the bill was voted on article-by-article.
The government has said that the bill is not intended to extend the PSP powers and functions but to formalise the various powers and functions that are already carried out by PSP officers by enacting a new law that clearly lists all their powers and functions. The government has said that under the new PSP law, the current functions and duties of PSP officers will “basically” remain unchanged.
The law states that the area for PSP officers to carry out their law enforcement tasks can extend to the area of the local airport and the cabins of aeroplanes, as well as Macau’s coastal waters – which cover an area of 85 square kilometres – and the vessels that are located within the city’s coastal waters, if public order and human lives are being jeopardised.
The law states that the head of the PSP Transport Department can be granted the power to initiate criminal proceedings.
The law states that PSP officers serving a prison term need to be housed in cells separate from other inmates.
