Recently the initiative group has started gathering internet signatures for the address to the Russian President calling for a comprehensive police reform. The Interregional Committee against Torture welcomes this initiative and joins it. On the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture we start the voting. It will last a year. You can also go to this web-page http://doverie.wordpress.com/ and set your signature.

Address to the President of the Russian Federation

Dear Mr. President!

Recent events have seriously undermined the society’s trust in the police. Sociological polls still show the majority of citizens do not feel protected from perpetrators and are afraid of the police.   

The state that pretends to adhere to the rule of law should not only guarantee public safety on paper, but take all the necessary steps to ensure it in practice.

Reports on crimes committed by law enforcement agents that on a regular basis appear in mass media in recent months obviously mean that nothing has been done to reform the Ministry of the Interior and suppress crimes committed by the Ministry staff. Such sickly situation is no longer comfortable either for the population or for the police itself.

We demand a comprehensive police reform which has become a pressing social need.

The reform should be conducted in such spheres as education, staffing policy, procurement, management, and, certainly, assessment whether the police works efficiently. The reform should be centered around the principle of respect for human rights. Serving the citizens must be the priority for the police, and this provision is to be consolidated both in office instructions, internal acts and in day-to-day operation.