Shavkat Mirziyoyev: Unfortunately, activity in combating crime is still conducted on an outdated system

Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- On 27 July, a meeting dedicated to the real state of activities on early warning of crime, issues of further increasing the responsibility of internal affairs bodies and other government agencies in this sphere, eliminating the existing problems and shortcomings in the system was held under the chairmanship of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev.

The meeting was attended by the Prime Minister and his deputies, the Prosecutor General, the Ministers of Internal Affairs and Defense, the Commander of the National Guard and the Chairman of the Supreme Court, the Chairman of the Jokargy Kenes of the Republic of Karakalpakstan, khokims of the regions and the city of Tashkent.

The system of internal affairs bodies was radically reformed in Uzbekistan. So, if before 60 percent of system employees worked in city and district agencies, and 40 percent at places, now 65 percent of employees are working closely with the population in makhallas. More than 80 legislative acts were adopted for improving the sphere.

According to reports, in 2017, the number of crimes decreased by 16 percent compared to 2016, for 6 months of this year – by 39 percent compared to the same period of 2017. However, the number of crimes related to willful killing, intentional infliction of grievous bodily harm, robbery, burglary, theft and fraud remains high.

– If everyone worked in a team, were sufficiently informed about the problems and facilitated their solution, warned the crimes beforehand and explained their true essence, today we would see quite different figures and picture, – the Head of the state said. – Unfortunately, activity in the sphere of combating crime is still conducted on an outdated system.

At the meeting dedicated to the real state of activities on early warning of crime, issues of further increasing the responsibility of internal affairs bodies and other government agencies in this sphere, it was noted that the practice of comparing the indicators with the previous period took root in law enforcement agencies. In this regard, activity on overcoming crime will henceforth be conducted on an entirely new system. In accordance with this system, which will be called “The truth about crime and justice”, when a crime is discovered, responsible leaders will study its reasons by visiting places, hold discussions, take concrete measures for preventing the incident from happening again. The same heading will be organized in the mass media, all the work will be covered in detail.

The need was noted for introducing the “Safe capital” concept, implemented in the city of Tashkent, and in other regions of the country as “Safe city”, taking into account the peculiarities of each region. Relevant assignments were given to the Prime Minister, the Prosecutor General, the Ministers of Internal Affairs and Defense, the Commander of the National Guard and the Chairman of the Supreme Court.

For effectively combating crime, it is necessary to introduce an effective mechanism for recording offenses and persons inclined to commit them. And the Information Center of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, responsible for maintaining a single record of offenses, their analysis and exchange of information, is inactive. In this connection, it is advisable to transfer the Information Center to the structure of the General Prosecutor’s Office. At the same time, it is necessary to introduce an electronic system for fixing offenses. As a logical continuation of this work, it is necessary to introduce a rating of activities in each region for prevention and counteraction of crime.

The post of Deputy for Youth Issues is introduced in the structure of the Women’s Committee, the Scientific Practical Research Center “Oila” and other organizations directly working with the population, khokimiyats, departments of internal affairs. However, their activity in crime prevention is not manifested.

a problem associated with the increased incidence of suicide was discussed. It was noted that the Republican Council of makhallas, ministries of health, higher and secondary special education, public education, the Youth Union and the Women’s Committee should consider each case of encroachment on the own life as an emergency situation and develop psychological assistance programs aimed at anticipating the occurrence of suicidal behavior in education institutions. The Committee on Religious Affairs and the Muslim Board of Uzbekistan should widely, using effective methods, explain the attitude of our sacred religion to suicide.

The main part of the registered crimes for 6 months of this year was theft, fraud, robbery and burglary. This testifies to the completely unsatisfactory activity of prevention services, criminal investigation and protection. So, only 0.7 percent of houses and 12 percent of business facilities of the country are connected to the security console, video cameras in public places are not united into a single system. This means that the security service is still working in the old way, modern information and communication technologies are being introduced slowly. This situation is one of the reasons for problems associated with disclosure of crimes. In this regard, it is necessary to organize the activity of the security service on the new system, fully introduce information technologies, improve the quality and scale of service on the basis of public-private partnership.

The problem of non-decreasing number of crimes among youth was considered at the meeting. It is a matter of concern that youth are involved in committing 30 percent of all crimes registered in the past 6 months of this year. The reason for this is not the unity of youth around a single idea and goals, the presence of many systemic problems in upbringing and provision of employment. For example, over 600 thousand young boys and girls graduate schools, lyceums and colleges every year. Only 10-15 percent of them enter higher education institutions. Therefore, it is necessary to think about what will happen to the rest. Without creating decent conditions for youth, no one has the moral right to demand something from them. Therefore, the State program “Yoshlar – kelajagimiz” (“Youth – our future”) was adopted, 800 billion sums are allocated for youth entrepreneurship and employment. Responsible persons should visit homes, talk with youth and, on this basis, ensure full execution of the program.

the issue related to the increase in the number of road accidents was discussed. It was noted that the main problem is the lack of knowledge and skills of drivers and pedestrians, lack of law-abiding and low culture, mutual disrespect of road users. The use of punitive measures for violation of traffic rules does not give the expected results. In addition, the condition of roads, activity on inventory of road signs, their phased replacement to modern ones, does not meet the requirements.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs, Uzbek Agency of Automobile Transport, the State Committee for Roads were instructed to ensure full and qualitative execution of tasks specified in the Road Safety Concept for 2018-2022. It is necessary to take measures on introducing the mechanism of public-private partnership into the sphere, privatization of main roads in the regions, provision of paid services, strengthening responsibility for the willful violation of traffic rules.

Due to these shortcomings, the internal affairs bodies have not yet become a structure that really cares about people. There are still cases of unsatisfactory work with appeals, a negligent attitude to official duties. Recently, inappropriate actions of system employees, cases of abuse of power were widely discussed on the Internet, which undermines the authority of internal affairs bodies. The Ministry of Internal Affairs needs to hold an extended board meeting, discuss such cases and determine measures to prevent recurrence.

As it is known, for the effective organization of activities of the Republican Commission on early detection of crimes and counteracting violations at places, appropriate regions and responsible leaders were assigned to each of five regional working groups, specific tasks were set for them. Conditions that contribute to committing crimes were studied, the number of which has increased, a roadmap aimed at early warning has been developed for each type of crime. The Head of the state noted that these events should not remain on paper, each event, every action should be aimed at a concrete result, facilitating concerns of the population. To do this, the Republican Commission should put a criminogenic “diagnosis” to each district and city and based on its results, draw up a map of the criminal situation in the country.

At the same time, the task of combating and preventing crime concerns all, including the courts. However, some chairmen of courts do not perform at the proper level not only this task, but also the professional duties assigned to them. From this point of view, the Supreme Judicial Council, the Supreme Court should take concrete measures for proper and effective organization of work in the courts, definition of specific criteria for assessing activities of courts’ chairmen, increasing participation and responsibility of courts in crime prevention.

The analysis of the issues discussed at the meeting dedicated to the real state of activities on early warning of crime, held on July 27, shows that analytical, legal and forecasting activities of the internal affairs bodies do not meet modern requirements. Activity of the Academy of the Ministry of Internal Affairs on training analyst staff cannot be called satisfactory. After all, forecasting the dynamics of crime is one of the important conditions for its early prevention. Taking this into account, responsible managers were given instructions on development of measures for radically improving activities of internal affairs bodies in relation to management, system analysis, forecasting and control.

Appropriate decisions were taken on the issues considered at the meeting, specific measures were identified.