In 2020, every AH will have its own police officer with a car, gun and salary from UAH 13,000 after reforming the institution of district police officers.

The Police Officer for Hromada project, which is funded by the international donor, involves reforming the institution of police officers. According to the National Police, today in the country there is a need for 146,000 these district policemen. The essence of the reform is that this officer will be consolidated strictly in his/her hromada, he/she will serve from 3 to 5 thousand people and will decide their legal issues. The mechanism of reform envisages that hromadas will even be able to seek candidates for these positions," said Riabokon.

"The institutional reform envisages that a police officer for a hromada will be assigned to his/her hromada, will solve administrative problems, traffic accidents and conduct "light" criminal proceedings. He/she will be subordinated to the head of the hromada and the executive committee, plus head of the local Main Department of the National Police," added Riabokon.

A hromada police officer will also be involved in the preventive work, that is collecting data about the hromada population. In addition, he/she will provide public order during holidays or meetings.

"In general, the presence of such an officer in the hromada is one of the "puzzles" for the establishment of so-called “security centres", which should also include fire safety and emergency medical care. Ideally, these three hromada services should be placed in the same building and respond to events together. Therefore, a police officer for a hromada is the first step for implementing such security centres in AHs.

In general, this reform will provide an opportunity to ensure order throughout the country and will strengthen the capacity of local self-government in ensuring safety of citizens,” the expert said.

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