ECSC representatives got acquainted with the implementation of the innovative Custody Records system and the arrangement of “green” rooms in district offices and police departments
The working visit of the experts of the Consultative Mission of the European Union to the Lutsk and Kovel Departments and the Kamin-Kashirsky and Volodymyr-Volyn police departments took place within the framework of the project of Custody Records system and “green room”.
Within two days, representatives of the ECU together with Deputy Head of the GUNP in Volyn Region Vitaliy Kovalchuk, Head of Youth Prevention Sector Inna Ostapovich, Representative of Human Rights Compliance Department of NPU Natalia Bartoshuk visited four territorial units of Volyn police. They inspected the implementation of the Custody Records system, which provides for: the presence of an institute of human rights inspectors, a unified electronic database of all actions against detainees, zoning of premises, video surveillance and remote monitoring of police actions and people's stay.
Vitaliy Kovalchuk informed that the project has been fully implemented in the Lutsk district administration and the Volodymyr-Volyn police department. In December, the updated units were presented to the public.
The premises are equipped in accordance with international standards — there is a room for interviewing a detainee, a room for a confidential meeting of the detainee with a defender, rooms for conducting investigators and other activities. There is also a zone of unhindered access — lobby, front office, room for receiving citizens.
Natalia Bartoshuk noted that the introduction of video fixation of detentions helps to monitor the observance of human rights. It also makes it possible to protect police officers from unfounded accusations and record their actions.
In the Kovel Administration and the Kamin-Kashyrsky Department, the introduction of the system and the arrangement of the front office is almost at the final stage. The premises are still undergoing repair work, they are promised to be completed by the end of the first quarter of this year.
We also got acquainted with the arrangement in the offices and departments of the so-called “green rooms”, in which the child will be interviewed in friendly conditions, which makes this process less traumatic.
Foreign experts noted that according to European standards, the concept of such a room provides for two rooms, one will be interviewed by an investigator or psychologist, in the other there will be all other participants in the procedural action — prosecutor, lawyer, legal representative, etc., who will observe the child via video transmission Lasification. Audio and video recording of the conversation will also be carried out, thanks to which in the future it will not be necessary to interrogate the child again, for example, in court.
They also noted that this room is intended not only for communication with children, but also for working with other different vulnerable segments of the population.
In the future, representatives of the advisory mission promise to transfer all the necessary equipment for this room.
Deputy Head of the GUNP Vitaliy Kovalchuk thanked foreign colleagues for their support and expressed hope in further cooperation. He noted that the green rooms will be fully equipped and ready for use by the end of February 2022.
Sector of communication of the police of Volyn region
