Effective as of today, the amended Article 101 of the Organisation and Work of the Police (ZODPol), as published in the Official Gazette of the Republic of Slovenia no 86/15, raises the age limit for auxiliary police officers from the age of 50 to the age of 60. From now on Slovenia's police force will be able to engage retired officers and former officers who have exited the service of their own accord. The legislative change allows for concluding contracts on voluntary service in auxiliary police with properly qualified former police officers while skipping the need to publish a call for tender and organise basic training.    

Paragraph 3 of Article 101 of the Organisation and Work of the Police (Official Gazette of the Republic of Slovenia, no 15/13 and 11/14) was amended to read as follows: "Members of the auxiliary police force may be female and male persons from the age of 18 until the end of the calendar year in which they reach 60, and who meet the requirements under Article 44 of this Act and have at least secondary professional or secondary general education." A new fifth paragraph was added: "In performing auxiliary policing service, auxiliary police officers who are retired persons shall not be subject to restrictions on the duration of temporary or casual work as specified in the act regulating labour market."

The purpose of this legislative change is to allow for the recruitment of additional staff to support regular police forces.

Adopted today and effective as of tomorrow, the Decree amending the Decree on auxiliary police will allow for the recruitment of retired police officers or former police officers who have left the service of their own accord, without them having to apply for a post, on condition they are under 60 years of age and that they have terminated their service in the police force over the course of last five years. Qualifying officers will conclude a contract on voluntary service in auxiliary police as set forth in Article 7 of the Decree on the grounds that they already possess the skills required. It is deemed that, in this specific case, a public tender for the selection of best qualified personnel would be irrelevant. 

There are currently 801 potential former staff members. All of them have been invited to sign a contract on voluntary service. 95 have already responded affirmatively. All former members accepting the terms of their contract will be invited to sign contracts at the end of the week to come, after which they will put on a list together with the 252 existing auxiliary police members. Then they can commence paid work while keeping their pension.

As a rule, auxiliary police staff will be deployed to serve at police stations in the area of their residence or, in particular, at police stations under major pressure due to migrant influx where they will replace staff deployed at the border.

In accordance with the Ordinance on determining measures for crisis response under the jurisdiction of Police (Official Gazette of the RS, no 87/2015), as adopted today, it will now be possible to deploy auxiliary police for a period exceeding 30 days in one calendar year (which has not been possible under the Organisation and Work of the Police Act (ZODPol)).

If it is determined that not enough past employees are interested in joining auxiliary police, the police will advertise job vacancies in accordance with the Decree and invite other interested job seekers/candidates. 

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The details of the legal institute of auxiliary police are contained in Section XI, Articles 101 through 106 of the Organisation and Work of the Police Act. This section defines the tasks of auxiliary police, their rights and duties, rules of their deployment, obligations of candidates for auxiliary police officers, for auxiliary police officers and their employers, the keeping of records, and sets forth implementing regulations.

In brief, auxiliary police officers are nationals of the Republic of Slovenia who sign a contract on voluntary service in auxiliary police and who are qualified to execute policing tasks. As a rule, auxiliary police officers shall conclude their contracts on voluntary service for a period of at least five years.

Auxiliary police officers shall be called in for the purpose of performing police tasks in the following cases:

  • when it is necessary to cover for a large number of regularly serving police officers in order to ensure a smooth performance of police tasks;
  • in the event of natural and other disasters;
  • in the event of a serious threat to public security;
  • in order to protect state border;
  • in the event of crisis and/or a state of emergency or war


Police Activities in Connection with Current Migration Flows - available information