Reforming Criminal Policy
By Levan Khutsishvili
Tuesday, June 26
In December 2017, The Minister of Internal Affairs Giorgi Gakharia, during the speech in the parliament, spoke about the reform of the Criminal Policy and mentioned the initiative of Police Officer for Order:
"In the part of Criminal Police today, some principally important parts should be allocated. First, it is what is called the strengthening of the investigative component. Of course there must be a detective division separately, but here is the need for a single synergy effect. Nevertheless, we believe that we must strengthen separately the institution of the Police Officer for Order, so called Institute of District Inspectors, to further support and develop the component of Relationship with Citizens. These are the main directions for which the Criminal Police should be reformed and further development should be conceptualized, “- said the Minister of Internal Affairs.
According to the Deputy Minister of Internal affairs, the institution of Police Officers for Order will have a web page www.Officer.ge as a specially created interactive communication channel, citizens will have opportunity to obtain information about the officer through the webpage and directly communicate with them.
"The Ministry of Internal Affairs is undergoing the process of content and structural reforms, and one of the main components of the process is reforming Criminal Policy. The ministry is switching from the traditional police concept to the public-oriented Police model, and implementation of the Institution of the Police Officer for Order instead of less-efficient institution of District Inspectors is the sign of this changes.
Ministry plans on the gradual replacement of the reaction approach with proactive approach and will strengthen the cooperation and communication with the society in order to ensure the public participation in preservation of the order in society. The Institution of the Police Officer for Order will be oriented to carry out measures for the prevention of crime and disorder. The competence of the Police Officer will include important issues such as under-aged citizens, domestic violence, neighborhood disputes, illegal migration, institution will be responsible for cases related to problems and challenges of vulnerable groups. Its function and obligation also includes planning and implementation of crime-oriented measures; Collection, systematization and primary procession of information; Proceedings of administrative offenses; Reaction to the committed crimes. The Police Officer for Order is a policeman coordinating with other police units to take care of public safety and help the citizens in solving p
ublic and civil problems. This institution on the first stage will be introduced in Tbilisi, as a pilot project and the Ministry of Internal Affairs aims at attracting new staff members, motivated and honest professionals who are willing to serve the country and contribute to the protection of public safety and law, "said Deputy Minister.
The need of reforms in Police is vital. Society’s trust to the public intuitions is not high and is even decreasing. According to the research of NDI just 35% of population evaluates work of Police positively and 6% very positively, also the number of the registered crime in 2017 compared with the same data in 2016 is increased by 5.4%. Changes in attitudes of police, and switching from reactive approaches to preventive approaches, especially with the active involvement of the society will have a positive influence on crime rate in the country.