June the 23rd, 2022 - Changes to how Croatian police fines are prescribed are afoot, with officers now being trained in how to use POS devices similar to those used in cafes and restaurants to facilitate payment by card.
As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, Croatian police officers are being educated on how to use POS devices, and the cash collection of traffic fines from the beginning of July will no longer be possible, as reported by the Ministry of the Interior (MUP).
From July the 1st, 2022, people will no longer be able to pay cash fines for traffic offenses at the scene of the offense, but from that date, the Ministry of the Interior will switch to cashless collection of fines via POS devices.
For this purpose, the Ministry of the Interior, through the Central State Office for the Development of Digital Society and the Financial Agency, procured 600 POS devices, which are deployed in police departments throughout the Republic of Croatia.
Officers are being trained for this new way of collecting Croatian police fines
The training of police officers on how to use POS devices is underway, and with faster, more efficient and transparent functioning at the scene of the offense, by waiving the payment of fines in cash, the Ministry of the Interior is meeting the recommendations of the Report of the 5th Evaluation Circle of GRECO. This is part of the official body of the Council of Europe which specialises in the prevention of corruption, and which works to improve the control and supervision of the existing system of the payment of fines to police officers, and reduces the risk of corruption among the police officers themselves..
In addition, the aforementioned change includes the recommendations of the Independent Internal Audit Service of the Ministry of the Interior.
"We'd like to emphasise that the police are already using POS devices for the collection of fines out in the field, along with the collection of fines in cash, while from July the 1st, the possibility of paying the fine in cash will no longer exist. A person who, through a POS device, pays a fine at the place where the offense was committed will be handed a Certificate that the fine and the costs of the procedure have been paid, and a slip made upon the transaction performed through the POS device.
What if you don't have your bank card with you?
If person wants to pay their fine at the place of the crime, but is unable to do so because they don't have a card with them, don't have enough funds in their bank account or some other reason, the police officer will hand him a Notice of Misdemeanor. In that case, the fine shall be deemed to have been collected at the place where the misdemeanor was committed if the person in question pays the fine, reduced by half, within three days of receiving the Misdemeanor Notice and submits proof of payment to the body that determined the misdemeanor.
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