PurposeThe aim of the study is to determine the perception of general public on the Serbian police behaviors in combating COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the perception of the citizens how successful the police units were in fulfilling their tasks.Design/methodology/approachDue to the state of emergency declared due to COVID-19 pandemic, in particular the restriction of movement and the need for social distance, the data collection for this study had to be conducted via the online survey platform (Google.doc). The study was conducted during March–April 2020, only four weeks after the state of emergency was declared. The participants were invited to complete the online questionnaire in their native language by using the snowball sampling strategy focused on recruiting the general public via social media tools.FindingsConsidering the fact that police officers are not sufficiently prepared and trained to respond in these specific circumstances, it is necessary to improve their engagement in the future by conducting appropriate training, procuring adequate resources, implementing adequate planning activities, etc. The results of the multivariate regressions of public perception preparedness subscale show that the most important predictor is gender and it explains 23.6% of the variance in preparedness subscale. The remaining variables did not have significant effects on preparedness. This model with all mentioned independent variables explains 6.1% of the variance of preparedness subscale.Originality/valueBearing in mind that there were no completed studies on public perception of police behaviors about the COVID-19 disaster in Serbia, the research has a considerable scientific and social importance.

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In the last two decades of the 21 st century, the significant development of the private security industry has taken place in Serbia and North Macedonia. However, the private security industry in these two countries did not reach professional standards as in other states of the former Yugoslavia. The aim of this paper was to determine students' perception of private security and its employees. The survey data were collected using an anonymous survey of 354 students (296 from Serbia and 58 from North Macedonia). In both countries the attitudes are heterogeneous, but a relatively small number of respondents have expressed a high level of perception of private security. The research has shown that gender, as one of demographic characteristics, has its role in shaping young pexople's views on the private security, that is, the female population has more positive views about private security officers, their integrity, and the nature of the private security job. The findings offer policy-makers and private security companies the opportunity to deploy new strategies to upgrade public attitudes towards private security, especially aimed at the male population.

The traditional view that only the police are responsible for security at sports events has largely been abandoned in the sense that stewards have more important place. This is also recognized in the Serbian legislation, in the standards of the Law on Private Security (LPS), the Law on the Prevention of Violence and Misconduct at Sports Events (LPVMSE), the Law on Public Assembly, and the international regulations of sports federations. The Council of Europe Convention on an Integrated Safety, Security and Service Approach at Football Matches and Other Sports Events - No. 218. (CETS 218), together with the Recommendation REC (2015) 1, and its annexes, which supersedes all previous recommendations, resolutions and statements, has also contributed to defining the role of stewards. Recommendation has become an integral part of the Convention (CETS 218). Common to all the aforementioned regulations is that the stewarding operations can be handled by persons who have completed special training. Unlike international regulations that provide extensive training for stewards, the existing programs in Serbia envisage very few hours of training. The work of stewards would certainly be aided by the improvement of certain legal regulations governing this area. The Republic of Serbia is not yet a signatory to the Convention (CETS 218), and it is necessary for the authorities to accede to its signing and ratification in order for Serbia to adopt the newly established European standards in this field as soon as possible.

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