Dacic: Acoustic Devices Were Not and Will Not Be Used

Ivica Dacic (BetaPhoto/Serbian Ministry of Interior)

Interior Minister Ivica Dacic said on Dec. 15 that the acoustic devices owned by the police “have never been used, and will never be,” because, as he put it, he has “sealed off” the use of that segment of the Interior Ministry’s technical equipment.

Speaking at a session of the parliamentary Committee on Defense and Internal Affairs, where a report on the work of the Ministry from July to September was discussed, Dacic said that the acoustic devices had been procured for the purposes of his department before he was appointed.

“These devices have two modes. One is to use them as the source of a sound signal, or rather as a stronger public address system that direct large crowds, or to stop someone crossing the border. The second mode consists of irritating sounds that can help disperse a crowd during protests. I ordered that they be brought to the central warehouse, and technically blocked the second mode. Since we do not need it, so that we would not irritate anyone, I offered that we somehow sell them,” the minister said.

Dacic added that the police will not use rubber bullets while he is at the head of the Ministry of the Interior.

In a comment on the claim of a prosecutor of the First Basic Public Prosecutor’s Office in Belgrade, Gordana Nedic Isailovic, that the police refused to provide her with an escort in order to carry out an on-site inspection at the tent camp of government supporters outside the Parliament of Serbia, the minister said that the police “have never refused a request from the prosecutor’s office…mindful of the security of judges and prosecutors.”