National Police of Ukraine

The National Police of Ukraine (Ukrainian: Національна поліція України, romanized: Natsional'na politsiya Ukrainy), commonly shortened to Police (Ukrainian: Поліція, Politsiya), is the national, and the only, police service of Ukraine. It was formed on 3 July 2015, as part of the post-Euromaidan reforms launched by Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko, to replace Ukrainian's previous national police service, the Militsiya.[4][5] On 7 November 2015 all the remaining militsiya were labelled "temporary acting" members of the National Police.[4]

National Police of Ukraine
Національна поліція України
Politsiya
Patch of the National Police
Emblem of the National Police
Badge of the National Police
Common namePolice of Ukraine
AbbreviationNPU
MottoTo serve and protect
(Служити і захищати)
Agency overview
Formed4 July, 2015
Preceding agency
Employees130,000
  • 119,000 police officers
  • 11,000 civil personnel
Annual budget13.9 billion UAH (2016)
Jurisdictional structure
National agencyUkraine
Operations jurisdictionUkraine
Size603,629 km²
Population44 million (approx.)
Governing bodyGovernment of Ukraine
Constituting instrument
  • Law on "National Police"
General nature
Operational structure
Overviewed byMinistry of Internal Affairs
Headquarters10, Academician Bohomolets
str., Kyiv,  Ukraine [1]
Minister responsible
Agency executive
  • Ihor Klymenko[2], Chief
Facilities
Patrol carsToyota Prius
Hyundai Sonata
Renault Duster
Mitsubishi Outlander
Skoda Rapid
Notables
Anniversary
  • Police Day, July 4[3]
Website
Official website

The agency is overseen by the Ministry of Internal Affairs.[6]

History

Prior to 3 July 2015, law enforcement in Ukraine was carried out directly by the Ministry of Internal Affairs as the militsiya. Plans to reform the Ministry, which was widely known to be corrupt, had been advocated by various governments and parties, but these plans were never realised.[5][7]

In the aftermath of the 2013–2014 Euromaidan movement and subsequent revolution, the need for reform was acknowledged by all parties. Parliamentary elections were held in October 2014, after which all five of the parties that formed the governing coalition pledged to reform the ministry and create a new national police service.[8]

As part of the reforms, the Minister of Internal Affairs, Arsen Avakov, presented plans to reduce the number of police officers in Ukraine to 160,000 by the end of 2015.[9] The reform plans started with the combination of the ministry's current State Auto Inspection (DAI) and the patrol service in the country's capital Kyiv in summer 2015.[10][11] This new police patrol received funding from various countries.[12] 2,000 new policemen and women, picked from 33,000 applicants, were recruited to initiate the new service in Kyiv. Officers were American-trained.[12]

23 August 2015 launch of the new patrol police in Lviv.

Upon the launch of Kyiv's new patrol police on 4 July 2015, the militsiya ceased all patrolling but continued working at precincts and administrative offices.[13][12][14] After that the new police patrol was rolled out across Ukraine.[12] The organisation was formally established as the National Police on 2 September 2015.[6] By late September 2015, 2,000 new constables were on duty in Kiev, 800 were on duty in Kharkiv and 1,700 were on duty in the cities of Odesa and Lviv.[15][13] At this point, the militsiya was 152,000 officers strong, and continued to handle most policing across Ukraine.[16] The basic salary of the new police force (almost $400 a month) is about three times as much the basic salary of the former militsiya; an attempt to decrease corruption.[17]

The new National Police officially replaced the old militsiya on 7 November 2015.[4] On that day, the remaining militsiya were labelled "temporarily acting" members of the National Police.[4] The change allowed for them to become members of the National Police after "integrity checks", but they were only eligible if they met the age criteria and went through retraining.[4][18] This transition period ended on 20 October 2016.[19] In this transition period 26% of police commanders were dismissed and 4,400 policemen and policewomen demoted and the same number of people promoted.[19]

Terminology

According to Professor Oleksandr Ponomariv of the Kyiv University's Institute of Journalism, the correct Ukrainian language term for a police officer is 'politsiyant' (поліціянт). This is in contrast to the term 'politseysky' (поліцейський), a loan word from the Russian language, commonly used to refer to an officer of the National Police.

Ranks are rarely used by the public when addressing police officers in Ukraine; it is more common to hear the term Pan (Пан) (female - Pani (Пані) - Ukrainian for mister/miss - used to refer to police officers. Qualifying terms such as 'ofitser' (офіцер) or 'politseiskyi' (поліцейський) may also be used in conjunction with these forms of address.

Structure and branches

The National Police is divided into a number of different services. Each force has internal subdivisions. This leaves the police service with a large number of specialised branches which can more specifically target certain types of crime and apply more expert knowledge in the investigation of cases relating to their area of policing. In addition to these specific groups, all police forces retain a majority of officers for the purpose of patrol duty and general law enforcement.

The Police contains the following subdivisions:[20]

  • Criminal Police (Кримінальна поліція) – investigation and prevention of serious and violent crime in Ukraine
    • Department in fight against drug-related crime
    • Department of Cyber Police (Кіберполіція, Департамент кіберполіції) – fighting against cyber crimes
    • Department of Economic Security
  • Department of Patrol Police (Патрульна поліція) – general law enforcement operations, traffic policing and patrol duty (includes riot police divisions)
    • number of municipal administrations
  • Department of Police Security (Поліція охорони) – Successor to the State Security Service (nothing to do with the State Security Administration)

In addition, the following special units exist:

  • Special Police (Спеціальна поліція) – Tasked with keeping order in areas with special status and/or affected by natural or ecological disaster.
  • Rapid Operational Response Unit (KORD) (Корпус Оперативно-Раптової Дії) – Tactical response unit, tasked with resolution of stand-off situations involving hostages and/or heavily armed suspects. Also tasked with providing a tactical support function to other divisional officers.
  • Pre-trial Investigative Services (Органи досудового розслідування) – Representatives of the National Investigative Bureau, Tax Authorities and Security Services, tasked with investigating crime.

Shoulder patches of the regional police subdivisions
Territorial forceDate of formation
Oblast / MunicipalityPolice force
City of Kyiv Kyiv Patrol Police4 July 2015[21]
City of Lviv Lviv Patrol Police23 August 2015[22]
City of Odesa Odesa Patrol Police25 August 2015[23]
City of Kharkiv Kharkiv Patrol Police26 September 2015[15]
Kyiv region Kyiv Oblast Patrol Police7 October 2015[24]
City of Uzhhorod Uzhhorod Patrol Police29 November 2015[25]
City of Mukacheve Mukacheve Patrol Police29 November 2015[25]
City of Mykolaiv Mykolaiv Patrol Police6 December 2015[26][27]
City of Lutsk Lutsk Patrol Police19 December 2015[28]
City of Khmelnytskyi Khmelnytskyi Patrol Police26 December 2015 [29]
City of Dnipro Dnipro Patrol Police17 January 2016[30]
City of Ivano-Frankivsk Ivano-Frankivsk Patrol Police30 January 2016[31]
City of Kherson Kherson Patrol Police8 February 2016[32]
City of Chernihiv Chernihiv Patrol Police19 February 2016[33]
City of Vinnytsia Vinnytsia Patrol Police22 February 2016[34]
City of Kremenchuk Kremenchuk Patrol Police27 February 2016[35]
City of Cherkasy Cherkasy Patrol Police1 March 2016[36]
City of Poltava Poltava Patrol Police5 March 2016[37]
City of Ternopil Ternopil Patrol Police12 March 2016[38]
City of Zhytomyr Zhytomyr Patrol Police22 March 2016[39]
City of Boryspil Boryspil Patrol Police24 March 2016[40]
City of Chernivtsi Chernivtsi Patrol Police27 March 2016[41]
City of Zaporizhia Zaporizhia Patrol Police16 April 2016[42]
City of Rivne Rivne Patrol Police19 April 2016[43]
City of Kropyvnytskyi Kropyvnytskyi Patrol Police28 April 2016[44]
City of Sumy Sumy Patrol Police12 May 2016[45]
City of Kramatorsk Kramatorsk Patrol Police14 May 2016[46]
City of Sloviansk Sloviansk Patrol Police14 May 2016[46]
City of Kryvyi Rih Kryvyi Rih Patrol Police19 May 2016[47]
Sievierodonetsk Sievierodonetsk Patrol Police22 May 2016[48]
Lysychansk Lysychansk Patrol Police22 May 2016[48]
Rubizhne Rubizhne Patrol Police22 May 2016[48]
Mariupol Mariupol Patrol Police30 May 2016[49]

Rank hierarchy
Junior officers Senior officers
Shoulder insignia
for every day uniform
Rank Constable,
Police officer		 Corporal Sergeant Staff sergeant Junior
lieutenant		 Lieutenant Senior
lieutenant		 Captain
Supervisory officers Staff officers
Shoulder insignia
for every day uniform
Rank Major Lieutenant
colonel		 Colonel Third division
general
(Major General)		 Second division
general
(Lieutenant General)		 First division
general
(Colonel general)

Equipment

Officers wear a camera that is constantly monitoring their performances.[13] The resulting videos are posted on social media and broadcast on a reality TV show.[13]

Vehicles
Picture Make and model Country of origin Use Quantity Notes
Toyota Prius
Japan		 Patrol car 1,568 General purpose patrol car.
Supplied by Japan in return for Ukrainian emissions permits under the Kyoto Protocol.
Hyundai Sonata
South Korea		 Highway patrol car 110 Highway patrol car.
Former taxis operated under the SkyTaxi brand by Kyiv's Boryspil International Airport. Owned by the state and transferred to the Police as surplus to SkyTaxi's requirements.
Isuzu D-Max
Japan		 Patrol car 38 Procured for the police in the Western Ukrainian region of Volyn.
Mitsubishi Outlander
Japan		 Patrol car 635 Were bought by in 2017.
Renault Dokker
Morocco		 Police van 192 Badged as Renault and based on the Dacia Dokker. Assembled in Morocco.
Renault Duster
Romania		 Patrol car 104 Badged as Renault and based on the Dacia Duster. Assembled in Romania.
UAZ Patriot
Russia		 Patrol car >20 Were bought before 2014 by former Ukrainian Militsya[50]
Lada Niva
Russia		 Patrol car 9 Were bought by Poltava Police in 2016.[51]
Raketa-Futong FT 150 /
China/Ukraine		 Police motorcycle
Robinson R44
United States		 Helicopter 1 Is used to maintain public order during mass events
Fiat Tipo
Turkey		 Patrol Car 20 Bought for Kyiv security police
[[]] Volkswagen Jetta
Germany		 Patrol car bought in 2019
Škoda Rapid
Ukraine		 Patrol car 400 First cars delivered in 2018. Assembled in Ukraine.
Peugeot 301
France		 Patrol car

Police Day
A police officer on the background of the festive logo during the celebration of the National Police Day of Ukraine in 2016.
A corps of drums from the National Police.

National Police Day (Ukrainian: День Національної поліції) on 4 July.[52] is the professional holiday of the Ukrainian Police. It commemorates the suspension of law enforcement duties by the Militsiya and the establishment of the National Police of Ukraine. It also coincides with the first oath of patrol policemen on Kyiv's Sofia Square. The holiday was introduced and first celebrated on 4 August 2015 and was celebrated on that day ever since until President Petro Poroshenko by decree on 4 April 2018 declared that the holiday should be celebrated annually on 4 July and become a national holiday.[53]

Issues

Ukrayinska Pravda collected (from open sources) 64 crimes allegedly committed by Ukrainian police officers from 1 January 2020 until 30 May 2020.[54] Cases ranged from extortion to rape to killings.[54]

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gollark: This is why the thing where all C programs contain their own data structures is bee.

See also

References
  1. "Official website". 2017.
  2. (in Ukrainian) Storming of a supermarket in Mariupol: the head of the National Police threatened with immediate punishment, Ukrayinska Pravda (16 April 2020)
  3. Ukraine marks National Police Day on July 4, UNIAN (4 July 2018)
  4. Law on national police enacted in Ukraine, Interfax-Ukraine (7 November 2015)
    (in Ukrainian)Avakov told how the police will police, Korrespondent.net (4 November 2015)
  5. "Ukraine launches Western-style police force to set a marker for reform". Yahoo News. Reuters. 6 July 2015. Retrieved 21 July 2015.
  6. National Police established in Ukraine, Interfax Ukraine (2 September 2015)
  7. "In Ukraine, they want to create 5 police departments instead of the militsiya" (in Ukrainian). Ukrainian Independent Information Agency. 10 January 2013. Retrieved 10 December 2014.
  8. Hankevych, Roman (21 November 2014). "Five parties signed the coalition agreement at night" (in Ukrainian). Zahid.net. Retrieved 9 December 2014.
  9. "Avakov wants to reduce the number of police officers to 160 thousand". Ukrayinska Pravda (in Ukrainian). 10 December 2014. Retrieved 10 December 2014.
  10. "Ukraine launches western-style police force to set a marker for reform". Ukrayinska Pravda. 24 December 2014. Retrieved 25 December 2014.
  11. "Kiev - Ukraine Launches Western-Style Police Force To Set A Marker For Reform". Vosizneias.com. 7 July 2015. Retrieved 7 July 2015.
  12. "Ukraine tackles graft with new US-style police force". Interaksyon. Agence France-Presse. 6 July 2015. Archived from the original on 9 July 2015. Retrieved 21 July 2015.
  13. New-style police have key role in Ukraine, BBC News (25 September 2015)
  14. Gessen, Masha (8 September 2015). "The Cops Who Would Save a Country". Foreign Policy.
  15. High hopes in Kharkiv as new police patrol officers sworn in, Ukraine Today (26 September 2015)
  16. Reform Watch - Oct. 1, 2015, Kyiv Post (2 October 2015)
  17. Ukraine Pins Hopes for Change on Fresh-Faced Police Recruits, New York Times (6 November 2015)
  18. Varadarajan, Tunku (3 September 2015). "Talent from Tbilisi". Politico.
  19. Police attestation completed, 26% of police commanders dismissed, Interfax-Ukraine (20 October 2016)
  20. National Police structure. Ministry of Internal Affairs (Ukraine). 18 March 2016
  21. Wesolowsky, Tony (4 August 2015). "A Force For Change: Kyiv's New Cops". Radio Free Europe.
  22. "Brand new police start work in Lviv". unian.info. 23 August 2015.
  23. "President launched patrol police in Odesa: New police in Ukraine is a symbol of revolutionary reforms". president.gov.ua. 25 August 2015.
  24. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 14 March 2016. Retrieved 13 March 2016.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  25. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 8 December 2015. Retrieved 29 November 2015.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  26. "Завтра днем в Николаеве примут присягу 480 новых патрульных полицейских" [Tomorrow afternoon 480 new patrol policemen will take the oath in Mykolaiv]. Преступности НЕТ. 5 December 2015.
  27. "У Миколаєві стартувала поліція, - Аваков" [Police started in Mykolaiv, Avakov]. espreso.tv. 6 December 2015.
  29. "В Хмельницком начала работу патрульная полиция" [The patrol police began work in Khmelnytsky]. Korrespondent.net. 26 December 2015.
  30. "У Дніпропетровську 950 патрульних поліцейських присягнули на вірність Українському народу" [950 patrol policemen swore allegiance to the Ukrainian people in Dnipropetrovsk]. Міністерство внутрішніх справ України. 17 January 2016.
  31. "В Ивано-Франковске начала работу новая патрульная полиция" [A new patrol police began work in Ivano-Frankivsk]. 24 Канал. 31 January 2016.
  32. "New police force begins patrol duties on streets of Ukraine Kherson". uatoday.tv. Archived from the original on 9 February 2016. Retrieved 8 February 2016.
  33. "Новые патрульные Чернигова приняли Присягу на верность украинскому народу" [New patrol police in Chernihiv took the oath of allegiance to the Ukrainian people]. Министерство внутренних дел Украины. 19 February 2016.
  34. "Poroshenko: I thank Dekanoidze for launching patrol police".
  35. "Новые патрульные Кременчуга приняли Присягу на верность украинскому народу (ФОТОРЕПОРТАЖ)". Министерство внутренних дел Украины.
  36. "Your new police - start in Cherkassy and Kremenchug! (PHOTOS, VIDEO)". MIA.
  37. "Патрульна поліція стартувала у Чернівцях" [The patrol police started in Chernivtsi]. pda.pravda.com.ua. 5 March 2016.
  38. "209 патрульних поліцейських склали Присягу перед громадою Тернополя" [209 patrol policemen took the oath in front of the Ternopil community]. Міністерство внутрішніх справ України. 12 March 2016.
  39. www.npu.gov.ua https://archive.today/20160327141028/http://www.npu.gov.ua/uk/publish/article/1858729. Archived from the original on 27 March 2016. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  41. "Патрульна поліція стартувала у Чернівцях" [The patrol police started in Chernivtsi]. pda.pravda.com.ua. 27 March 2016.
  42. "У Запоріжжі патрульні поліцейські присягнули на вірність українському народу (ФОТО, ОНОВЛЕНО ВІДЕО)". Міністерство внутрішніх справ України.
  43. Censor.NET. "193 patrol police officers took oath in Rivne. VIDEO+PHOTOS".
  44. "Новини - Українська правда". pda.pravda.com.ua.
  45. "У Сумах склала присягу патрульна поліція".
  46. На вулиці Краматорська і Слов'янська вийде нова патрульна поліція (фото, відео) [New patrol police on the streets of Kramatorsk and Sloviansk]. mvs.gov.ua (in Ukrainian). 14 May 2016.
  47. "Новые патрульные являются будущим Украины - Хатия Деканоидзе (ФОТО, ДОБАВЛЕНО ВИДЕО)". Министерство внутренних дел Украины.
  48. Патрульна поліція Сєвєродонецька, Лисичанська та Рубіжного приступила до роботи [Patrol police of Sievierodonetsk, Lysychansk, and Rubizhne begins work]. rbc.ua (in Ukrainian). 22 May 2016.
  49. "Патрульная полиция Мариуполя присягнула на верность украинскому народу (ФОТО, ДОБАВЛЕНО ВИДЕО)". Министерство внутренних дел Украины.
  50. "УАЗ-3163 "Патріот"". Archived from the original on 17 May 2014. Retrieved 21 January 2017.
  51. "Как полтавские полицейские пересели на российские "Нивы"".
  52. https://www.unian.info/society/amp-10174799-ukraine-marks-national-police-day-on-july-4.html
  53. https://www.efe.com/efe/english/world/ukraine-celebrates-first-national-police-day-since-revolution/50000262-3004016
  54. (in Ukrainian) Who to call when the police kill? Chronicle of tortures, murders and beatings of law enforcement officers, Ukrayinska Pravda (5 June 2020)
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