Public opinion will become an official criterion for evaluating the work of the district police officer - Ministry of Internal Affairs

June 20, Minsk / Vasily Malashenkov - BELTA/. The Ministry of Internal Affairs plans to make public opinion one of the main official criteria for evaluating the work of district police officers. This was announced to journalists today by the head of the prevention department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Belarus, Roman Melnik, BELTA correspondent reports.

Roman Melnik explained that a new instruction on the work of district police inspectors is currently being developed by the police department. It is planned that this document will be adopted in November 2011. At the same time, the Ministry of Internal Affairs invites all interested citizens to submit proposals, which will be necessarily considered. The instruction will specify the duties of the district police officer, including new provisions on the prevention of domestic violence. It will also eliminate the duplication of some points that are already in the law on "Bodies of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Belarus".

As the representative of the Ministry of Internal Affairs noted, the average length of service as a district police inspector is currently 5 years, however, it cannot be said that the staff shortage among district police officers is large - it is only 7.5%. At the same time, the Ministry of Internal Affairs plans to fill some vacancies by August this year by recruiting graduates of police educational institutions. Roman Melnik added that the average age of a district police officer is currently about 30 years, and 17% are police officers in their first year of service. In addition, 60% of district police officers have higher or secondary vocational legal education. Slightly more than 30% of inspectors live in the territory of their districts. According to the norms, in rural areas, one district police officer may be responsible for about 270 people, and in cities, this figure can reach up to 3.5 thousand, as the population density is higher here.

"The work of a district police officer is painstaking daily work, which, unfortunately, is not visible," noted Roman Melnik and emphasized that the service of district police officers works more closely with the public than others. That is why the position of a district police officer is often a kind of school, after which a police officer can become an investigator, an operative, etc.

In recent years, the Ministry of Internal Affairs has taken a number of steps to increase the prestige of the service of district police officers. Almost all workplaces have been equipped with computer equipment.-0-