After the terrible tragedy on January 18 with the death of the leadership of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in Brovary, which stirred up not only the police and the National Guard, but the whole society, there are many concerns about maintaining stability in the internal affairs system. Today, the parliament appointed Igor Klymenko as Minister of Internal Affairs, who, in the status of head of the National Police, acted as Minister. De jure, the state has taken the necessary actions, and this is good.

De facto, the internal affairs system has hundreds of thousands of employees and five bodies (the National Guard, the National Police, the State Emergency Service, the Border and Migration Services), where the personal charisma or managerial style of the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs influence the activity, but do not determine it. Moreover, after the depoliticization of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in 2015, there is no longer a “minister of police”, and the ministry itself performs (at least tries to perform) a political function, not a managerial one..

[see_also ids\u003d"

Therefore, it is better to look at the system itself: what it is now and what awaits it. Did the units of the Ministry of Internal Affairs manage to find a balance between the war and everyday peaceful tasks, including their reform in the direction of a qualitative cleansing of the system?

The main challenges sharpened by the war.

Thus, 2022 has become a test for the whole country, all authorities in the conditions of war have adapted their functions to the needs of wartime, especially for bodies in the national security and defense system.. The Ministry of Internal Affairs coordinates the activities of five bodies that are directly involved both in repelling the armed aggression of the Russian Federation and in ensuring order in the rear, establishing life in the de-occupied territories, etc..

Already now we can state the following.

First, the presence of personnel stability at the level of senior management. After all, thanks to a number of successful decisions by the government, on January 18 and 20, it was possible to determine both the acting Minister of the Interior and the head of the National Police. At the same time, the situation, which consisted in the fact that Igor Klymenko actually headed both the ministry and the National Police for more than two weeks, had a negative impact on the efficiency of the entire system of the Ministry of Internal Affairs simply because its head did not have time to combine posts and transit work cases. That is why his appointment on February 7 as a minister without “and. » is a good solution that will reduce any transition periods and ensure political stability.

It is worth pointing out that the minister and the head of the police are two positions of different functions.. The first is a political person (in the sense of shaping state policy, representing the interests of bodies in government, etc.).. ), and the second performs managerial functions (operational management of the body). This is an achievement of the already mentioned depoliticization of 2015. True, it still needs to be completed, because, contrary to the classical European model, the Minister of the Interior influences personnel appointments in the police, for example, coordinates the appointment of heads of regional departments. Given the different functions of the positions of the minister and the head of the police, it is difficult to say whether the experience of managing the police gives significant advantages in the performance of the political functions of the minister. He gives knowledge of the system, which is a big plus, but on the other hand, it always creates risks that the interests of his former department will prevail over the interests of other bodies of the Ministry of Internal Affairs system. But looking for candidates during the war is a thankless task, so most likely the best solution is to appoint someone who has already taken over some of the cases as soon as possible.. It is also necessary to appoint the head of the National Police as soon as possible.

Secondly, the actual functions performed by the bodies of the Ministry of Internal Affairs have significantly shifted towards responding to the challenges posed by the war.. Although this seems obvious, it should be said, because the new situation directly affects the role of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. First of all, we are talking about militarization - the National Guard, with its mixed function of internal security and public order protection, is now more focused on providing the defense forces with specialized personnel. It is the same in other bodies of the MIA system: for everyone who wanted to defend the country on the front line, conditions have been created for transit towards the formations of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

Significant resources of the police and the State Emergency Service go to support security in the rear, the preservation and restoration of critical infrastructure, the restoration of the functioning of power in the de-occupied territories by implementing priority security measures, demining territories, fixing damage to housing, etc..

At the same time, the border and migration services are intensively guarding the borders, working more carefully with migration measures and generally trying to provide quality services to citizens of Ukraine in difficult conditions..

[see_also ids\u003d"

Finally, little is said about this, but credit must be given to the police officers who are actively involved in the investigation of war crimes.. Moreover, the primary investigative actions usually lie on the shoulders of the police.. And this is the discovery of the bodies of Ukrainians tortured by Russians, and the exhumation of mass graves, and psychological support for people in the newly liberated territories, etc.. This is a remarkable psychological challenge for everyone, and the police, due to their regional presence and a significant number of personnel, are maximally involved in these processes, without which no investigation and prosecution of the perpetrators is possible..

But! No one canceled crime - from theft and robbery, fraud and traffic accidents with victims to cyber attacks, the number of which has increased significantly. However, the resource of the system is limited, primarily in specialists who are more focused on national security issues, rather than domestic crime.. The results of the investigation (popularly referred to as “disclosure indicators”) have declined as expected, however, mostly in areas that were previously problematic: for example, burglaries or fraud with bank transfers (now pseudo-volunteers who actively parasitize in the war have been added). The biggest problem ahead is the deterioration of the socio-economic situation, demobilization, the illegal circulation of weapons and ammunition... It is necessary to prepare in advance for these negative satellites of the war, which any criminologist can talk about.

So the bodies of the Ministry of Internal Affairs system today not only perform civilian functions, but also give an armed rebuff to the aggressor, maintain order in the rear and restore life in the de-occupied territories, perform functions in the field of criminal prosecution.

Third, previous criticisms of illegal work practices or manifestations of corruption remain relevant.. Therefore, the need for development, even in conditions of war, should not be denied.. The process of self-purification, primarily through disciplinary procedures, is actually frozen, and manifestations of corruption are carefully hushed up.. It seems that only under pressure from Europeans and Americans in the past two weeks have intensified investigations, in particular those related to corruption schemes at customs, procurement, and humanitarian aid.. Unfortunately, in all these crimes there are tens and hundreds of perpetrators, including within the system of the Ministry of Internal Affairs itself..

Is it possible to continue to clean up and reform the Ministry of Internal Affairs in the conditions of war?

Postponing it to peacetime is wrong, not only from the point of view of morality, but also from a political necessity.. We have a task to fulfill the recommendations of the European Union on the accession of Ukraine, submitted on June 17, 2022. One of them directly concerns the bodies of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, namely the part of Recommendation No. 4 - “adopt a comprehensive strategic plan for reforming the entire law enforcement sector as part of the safe environment of Ukraine”.

On January 11, 2023, Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin announced that the Interdepartmental Working Group developed a draft Comprehensive Strategic Plan for Reforming Law Enforcement Agencies as Part of the Security and Defense Sector of Ukraine for 2023-2027 and sent it to the office of the President of Ukraine for study and further approval by a decree of the President of Ukraine.

Among other things, the strategic priorities of reforming law enforcement agencies included: ensuring the effectiveness and efficiency of law enforcement agencies as an integral part of the security and defense sector, within which they ensure the national security of Ukraine, including public security and order, combating crime; development of a results-oriented management system in accordance with established priorities; comprehensive digital transformation of the system, as well as openness, transparency, accountability, independence and its political neutrality.

What is behind these official statements Continuation of the same reforms that were not completed after the Revolution of Dignity. We still have qualitatively new bodies or units, for example, patrol police or service centers of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, but it is difficult to say that they form a system. There are new and old structures, new and old cadres that coexist. And this is a problem, because after the end of the war, we will again begin the old story about purification, attestation, reboot..

It is almost impossible to do this successfully, it is often simply unconstitutional, so it is rather necessary to change the internal structure: for example, to reform the criminal unit of the police, to combine the positions of an investigative and operational officer, to introduce a clear system of evaluation according to the criteria for the quality of work, and only then look at how people. If the current assessment and disciplinary systems work, inefficient law enforcement officers will naturally be dismissed as not performing their official duties properly..

It is not for nothing that so much has been said about depoliticization - in fact, excessive political influence remains, and this is one of the biggest challenges for such a large-scale system as the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The aforementioned processes of militarization will have the consequence that the bodies of the Ministry of Internal Affairs will for a long time remain the key power bloc of the state responsible for internal security.. At the same time, poor personnel decisions, tolerance for corruption, or simply non-reaction to systemic problems can create situations where this resource will be used against Ukrainians.. Therefore, today we are engaged in de-oligarchization, but at the same time we must not forget that the bodies that have a monopoly on the use of force also need close attention..

At the same time, it should be clarified that the position of the EU is that our Plan, as a candidate for the EU, should concern peacetime. Therefore, it did not include problematic issues of the functioning of law enforcement agencies in war conditions, the issue of military and military justice, the policy of de-occupation and post-war reconstruction of Ukraine (in terms of security measures). Is it critical? In fact, no, if in parallel with this document you have a high-quality state (public) policy on the issues listed above.

Because it is one thing what kind of system of law and order the Europeans want to see (indeed, this is a system of peacetime), another thing is what challenges the war poses for it today and how we can preserve the system of law and order until peacetime.

Thus, despite the constancy of the MVD system in wartime conditions, this should not be the result of sporadic efforts of good leaders or grassroots initiative of subordinates, but part of a constant, consistent, effective wartime state policy..

[votes id\u003d"