Beach Cops

From the MT:

"Volunteer Cops to Raid Moscow Beaches"

Activists will be raiding city beaches in a fight against public order violations such as drinking and smoking, the head of the Moscow City Duma's security committee announced Wednesday. Irina Svyatenko told the Moskva news outlet that members of the Safe Capital organization, a project providing volunteers to help police patrol Moscow's streets, will be carrying out inspections from June 1. "Activists will be ensuring order on the beaches, together with the police,” Svyatenko said. “It is strictly forbidden to smoke or to drink alcohol on the beaches, except the specially designated areas." Safe Capital volunteers will also be maintaining order at potentially rowdy school graduation celebrations, and ensuring that Muscovites aren't tempted to swim away from designated areas, Moskva reported. "We have a list of beaches where swimming is forbidden, but, nevertheless, we see [groups of young people] resting in the water, paying no attention to the warning boards," said Svyatenko. Safe Capital held its first raid in May 2015, and was later registered as a public association aiding law enforcement.

^ I don't understand why Russia feels the need to have these kind of volunteer "cops" to enforce the rules and laws within their country. The regular police force should be used for these purposes and not random citizens. That is a throw-back to Soviet times when "citizen patrols" would go after those they considered in the wrong. Using random citizens without the right training to enforce the laws just leads to a dangerous situation on the streets  - and beaches. ^

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/volunteer-cops-to-raid-moscow-beaches/567937.html