Municipal policing services in urban management and place of municipal policie in the 21 th century city (A case of Afyon municipality)

Local governments perform public safety service to provide welfare and safety to people, which are out of the jobs of central government's general safety services. Municipalities, as a type of local government, are to meet common needs of local people of a jurisdiction such as providing health, safety, and welfare and to protect and sustain public order. Municipalities fulfil these duties by using municipal policing organisations. The rights of urban people are as follow: basic, economical, social, cultural, solidarity. Urban is a place where these rights are materialised. These rights are mentioned in the European Urban Charter for the first time. According to the European Urban Charter, urban safety and health are the two rights of people of jurisdiction, which have priority in the list of rights. These rights are related to one of the basic aims of municipal policing which is public safety, directly. Public safety is to provide public order and the health of people of jurisdiction. A questionnaire research is carried out for examining municipal polices and their service in Afyon city center. The findings show that municipal polices encounter financial, social, administrative, organizational, political, law and health problems. These problems constrain improving the quality and quantity of municipal policing service and municipal police. For an efficient and effective municipal policing service, these problems ought to be solved. A new legislation is needed to remove this disorder in the legal and administrative regulations. At least, municipal police constitution should be renewed. On the other hand, municipal polices should be educated and trained for a better division of labour and specialization. Additionally, the relationship between municipal polices and media and public should be enhanced and the ethical values of municipal polices should be improved.