The Main Office of Private Security of the Russian Interior Ministry, in pursuance of the paragraph 4 part 2 of the Article 5 of the Federal Law dated March 6th, 2006 N 35-FZ “On combating terrorism”, has developed a draft of the Government Resolution on approval of requirements to anti-terrorist protection of places of mass stay of people and objects (territories), that are subject to mandatory protection by the police.
According to positions of the private security, “Requirements to anti-terrorist protection of places of mass stay of people and the form of a safety passport of places of mass stay of people” arouse the greatest interest.
Public places are the most vulnerable to terrorist attacks. The power to attribute public places to potentially dangerous places in relation to a terrorist is entrusted to bodies of state power of the Russian Federation subjects, the administration of municipalities, urban and other settlements on the submission of anti-terrorist commissions, territorial bodies of the Federal security service of Russia, the Russian Interior Ministry, the Russian Emergencies Ministry. Clear criteria for attribution of public places to potentially dangerous places from the position of the terrorist threat are not installed. Authorities of constituent entities and local authorities in the performance of their mandates will be guided, apparently, by subjective principles.
Depending on the degree of state, political and social significance, the quantity and time of simultaneous presence of people, potentially dangerous for terrorism public places are divided into the following categories:
The procedure of categorization will be carried out by commissions specially formed for it. The committee consists of: Chairman of the Committee – Head of the Anti-terrorist Commission of the Russian Federation subject, municipality, city or other settlements or his deputy, representatives of territorial bodies of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Federal Security Service, the Ministry of Emergency Situations, involving, if necessary, representatives of other organizations, whose objects are located within boundaries of a public place or in a close proximity to it. According to a survey, a category is assigned for a public place, and requirements and measures on ensuring its anti-terrorist protection are determined.
It is supposed, that all public places, regardless of the installed category, must be equipped with:
In addition, every public place, that is subject to categorization, must have a passport. It should reflect information about employees and tenants of nearby areas, potentially dangerous areas, possible consequences of a terrorist attack, measures on “technical and physical protection and fire safety of the object”.
As for private security organizations, there is no word about them nowhere in the Resolution. Indirectly, they are mentioned only in the passport together with other forces, that are engaged to provide anti-terrorist protection of objects. The passport of a public place should include fully information about an involved private security organization, as well as its employees, directly providing services on ensuring anti-terrorist protection of public places.
The project is published for public discussion, but even a brief analysis of its content raises numerous questions. Will it be possible based on criteria mentioned above to attribute, for example, a large, all-day shopping center to this type of objects? If it is needed to specify information about the personnel, should it be rewritten weekly etc.? Theoretically, the project should operate during not less than 15 days and comments “from the public” should be taken into account to some extent by the developers.