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The Russian Interior Ministry finally appears to be ready to open up and make its work more transparent as it prepares to unveil a new reform plan elaborated by harsh critics of former police chief Rashid Nurgaliev.
One of the authors, State Duma deputy Alexander Khinshtein says the draft is a roadmap listing all the major aspects that need to be improved. The focus will be made on boosting the competence of the law enforcement and confidence with ordinary people.
According to the blueprint, Nurgaliev’s top-down management system has failed to bring about the transformations that the civil society has long expected. The re-certification programme launched by former president Dmitry Medvedev wasn’t successful, either.
The new plan covers five major dimensions:
· purging bent cops and uprooting police corruption and abuse,
· improving interaction with civil society,
· police officers must be closer to people and respond faster,
· sorting out the crimes’ stats,
· stepping up the fight against organized crime, human and drug trafficking and terrorism.
The authors have urged civil society to submit their own proposals on how to make Russia’s police force modern, efficient and operating in the people’s interests.
The previous reform which was designed to transform former militia turned into a professional police force was launched at the end of 2009 after several high-profile scandals involving senior police officers and saw millions of dollars spent on changing the name on cars, buildings, uniform, etc. The official law on the police force came into effect on 1 March, 2011, however, experts pointed out that little actually changed, apart from a significant increase in salaries. Nurgaliev turned into a notorious figure and was kicked out of the new cabinet in May 2012. His successor, Vladimir Kolokoltsev, has shown more desire to change and eradicate corruption within the ranks.
More on the police reform and police abuse in our previous articles:
If you want more information on the Russian police reform, feel free to contact Russia-IC.
Author: Mikhail Vesely
