Some Turn to Criminal Authorities, But Not to the Police: Daniel Ioannisyan

Not the Police becoming the Ministry of Internal Affairs, but a Ministry of Internal Affairs is being created, which will include the Police. This was stated by Daniel Ioannisyan, head of the 'Informed Citizens' non-governmental organization, during a discussion on the 'Strengths and Weaknesses of the 2020-2022 Police Reform Strategy' with journalists.

According to him, 27 out of 28 European Union member states have a Ministry of Internal Affairs, while in Sweden the police are under the Ministry of Justice. 'In general, in all democratic countries, the police are under civilian control, and it is important that this change is being made in Armenia as well. This resembles the model of the armed forces. In this model, there will be a police chief, a commander of the police, the police will remain a vertical system, and there will also be a minister of internal affairs. The police chief will be appointed by the Prime Minister, not the minister, though at least in the currently planned model, based on the minister's proposal. This is what civil society has long demanded,' he said.

As for what this will bring, Ioannisyan noted that this model will allow the police to operate under parliamentary oversight, preventing the mixing of the civilian functions of policy-making and implementation with the more military functions. 'This will enable the parliament to monitor police activities more effectively. Now, if MPs have questions about police actions, they are answered either by the Prime Minister or the Minister of Justice, but both are quite limited in their knowledge of all police operations. In this regard, there will be a Minister of Internal Affairs who will answer the MPs' questions, and in all aspects, the system will become more democratic,' he explained.

According to Ioannisyan, the establishment of a patrol service is also crucial, which will be a newly created system based on ensuring that all personnel undergo additional training. 'The most serious problem is the perception of the police by the public. People who have issues that fall within the police's domain do not turn to the police because they do not expect that the police will solve the problem. People resort to other means, from criminal authorities to various other options. Some turn to, to put it bluntly, 'big brothers,' the criminal authorities, while others do not turn to anyone. It is very important for the police to be perceived by the public as a friend that you can approach when you have a problem, rather than be taken in five times, brought to the station, made to write seven explanations, and in the end, your problem remains unresolved. Once you experience that or hear that it has happened, you are unlikely to approach the police again,' Daniel Ioannisyan expressed his views during the public discussion on police reforms.

'The police have always tried to address their urgent operational issues under the guise of 'reforms.' Today's reforms must become real changes; they must be implemented as a result of active discussions with the public, because we need to have a police system that does not raise doubts about either its legality or actions in the eyes of society,' stated Andranik Kocharyan, chairman of the National Assembly's Standing Committee on Defense and Security, during the discussion.