The Ministry of Internal Affairs implements new community security projects, the number of community police officers will triple - Denis Monastyrsky
Today, November 4, the forum “Safe Community” started in Kyiv. President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky said that community security begins where all government institutions work in harmony and in unison.
“Every inhabitant of the community has the right to protection of life, health, protection from fires and natural disasters, as well as to quality administrative services. Community safety begins where the streets are lit and without pits on the roads, where people are not afraid to turn to the police for help. Where protecting a woman, a child, an elderly person from domestic violence is not only a matter for the police, but for the whole society. Where there is an opportunity, with the help of a helicopter, to provide emergency medical care in any corner of our country. We have to provide these simple, at first glance, things with joint efforts — local and central authorities,” Volodymyr Zelensky said.
Interior Minister Denis Monastyrsky said that the decentralization reform poses new challenges to the work of the security sector. It is about ensuring that the residents of the community know each police officer face to face and trust him, the rescuer was able to get to the scene of the emergency in time and quickly.
“It is impossible to carry out decentralization of the power units, but there must be decentralization of the services that every citizen should receive. This goal cannot be achieved without communication. If a policeman in the area, city, yard will know about the needs of residents, he will be perceived, trusted, and we will achieve our goal,” he said.
The head of the law enforcement agency said that in 8 years of war Ukraine has lost many citizens. But even in peaceful territory people die. For 2020, the statistics are terrible, 3554 people died on the roads, 1728 — died in fires, 1201 on the water. In 2020, 7814 citizens of Ukraine died. At the same time, 50 defenders lost their lives in the PLO area during the same period.
Therefore, the goal of the Ministry of Internal Affairs is to reduce these terrible figures.
Denis Monastyrsky named several successful projects that managed to be implemented together with territorial communities.
“Community Police Officer Project, trust in these people is over 70%. Next year, we plan to triple the number of community officers, to two thousand. That each community has its own officer. And in large ones - in every district of Starostyn”, - said the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
He added that a project to provide 100% of the personnel of the patrol police with body cameras is ongoing. And here we are talking not only about video fixation of offenses and the work of the patrols themselves. But also about the observance of the rights of the citizen and the effectiveness of the police.
Denis Monastyrsky stressed that the policy of barrier-free remains an integral theme.
“For unhindered access for all groups of the population, we have already started and successfully implemented projects to adapt digital services, infrastructure facilities and structures of the bodies of the Ministry of Internal Affairs so that they can be used by persons with special needs,” he said.
The Minister of Internal Affairs also stressed that the Ministry of Internal Affairs pays attention to ensuring the safety of children: “The school should be a center of safety. If we allow crime, bullying or the distribution of drugs there, we will get these problems in society.”
Denis Monastyrsky stressed that only real cooperation with communities can lead to a real result in the fight against domestic violence.
“Sometimes the choice of means of punishment for offenders needs to be discussed with local communities. In particular, socially useful works are very often criticized at the local level. I urge to discuss these problems and jointly find effective methods of struggle,” he said.
The head of the law enforcement agency addressed the representatives of the communities and urged to adopt best practices and better experience for further work: “The main thing for us is communication between the central authorities and the territorial communities. At the end of the forum, communication chats will be created, where the heads of the AHs, the heads of the police and the State Emergency Service will be present on the ground. I am convinced that this will be an effective feedback mechanism that was previously absent.”
Minister of Development of Communities and Territories Oleksiy Chernyshov thanked the Ministry of Internal Affairs for its attention to security issues in communities: “The achievements of the decentralization reform are our common achievements. Security remains a key demand of our society.”
Department of Communications of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine
