Anouncement
Round table discussion "Spirituality. Public Morals. Law"
An efficient control over the policemen's moral and psychological condition, and an increase in their professional responsibility should provide a good guarantee that the guards of law will not violate the law, according to Minister of the Interior Army General Rashid Nurgaliyev of the Russian Federation. He stated it on Wednesday during the round table discussion "Spirituality. Public Morals. Law" which was held in Russia's MVD Moscow University.
The event was attended by the deputies of the State Duma of the Russian Federation, the members of the Public Chamber and the Public Council under Russia's MVD, the representatives of the religious denomination and public organizations, human rights activists and prominent arts and cultural figures.
The meeting was broadcast as a video conference in all the regions of the country so that the employees of the territorial subdivisions of Russia's MVD were able to follow the discussion unfolding online. Therefore, a total of over 25 thousand employees of the Internal Affairs bodies participated in the online round table discussion.
The panel discussion participants evaluated the high-profile emergencies that occurred in a number of regions and were related to policemen. They also discussed the controversial issues concerning the relationship between citizens and policemen. A particular attention was paid to working out joint solutions in order to overcome the spiritual crisis and the loss of moral values among various social strata and professional groups.
Opening the round table meeting, Minister of the Interior Rashid Nurgaliyev of the Russia Federation pointed out that over the previous years, a crime rate was rising in different social spheres in Russia, which provoked a negative reaction and severe condemnation from the public.
Rashid Nurgaliyev spoke about the measures taken by Russia's MVD to prevent the abusive treatment of citizens by employees of the Internal Affairs bodies. The Ministry Head emphasized that each crime against person would be investigated in public. "Although it should be taken into account that each incident of this kind stigmatizes the good reputation of honest officers who risk and sometimes sacrifice their own life and health perform their duty conscientiously catching dangerous criminals and rescuing people. Yet each employee of Russia's MVD should remember that any abuse of the authority by policemen will lead to the personal and unavoidable responsibility of the guilty and their chiefs," stressed the Army General.
The round table discussion also covered legal, moral and psychological aspects of selecting and recruiting police personnel, and the topical issues of the interaction between the Ministry and the civil society institutions. Rashid Nurgaliyev stressed that a policeman's moral and psychological condition and their professional responsibility should become a guarantee against committing a crime, rather than fear of video cameras and punishment. This requires joining the efforts of all those who imprint the moral atmosphere in the society and create the Russian information space.
In his turn, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Kirill thanked policemen for the good service, their loyalty to the oath, and readiness to sacrifice their life for ordinary citizens. "A policeman is no superman in a uniform, he is constantly operating in an immoral environment thus requiring a spiritual and moral support from all public institutions, particularly, the religious ones," explains the Patriarch.
He points out that on a daily basis, a policeman encounters "most perverted and dangerous manifestations of the human character", violence, corruption whereas the amount of bribes offered often exceeds his salary by many times. The Patriarch compared the daily work of an employee of Russia's MVD to being in an infirmary for infectious patients.
"It is very easy to catch one infection, than another and another. Speaking in allegories, the policemen have to deal with a disease, a horrendous disease, filth, drugs, family rows, forced contacts with the criminal world. When a doctor comes to the infirmary, he is protected from the infection but what about a policeman? Are young boys and girls strong enough to resist the criminal plague? How well are they protected? We do not dress supermen and superwomen as policemen and send them there where there is decay, rottenness, spiritual gangrene, cholera and pest which are transmitted far easier that the real cholera and pest, do we? We send young boys and girls there," he said.
According to him, an enormous role in increasing policemen's spiritual and moral "immunity" should be played by all public institutions, in particular, the religious ones.
"I believe that a great responsibility for the training of the law enforcement officers as well as uniformed people defending their Fatherland should rest with traditional religious organizations," said the Patriarch. He stressed that establishing an efficient system of Russia's MVD was the task of both its leadership and public, including the TV, theatre and cinema.
Speaking about reforming the Ministry, he warned against radical and ill-considered measures. "The reform should not mean self-destruction, and it should not reduce the potential to resist those who are not prepared to abide by the law. Police bears a huge political responsibility for the institute of power and the stability in the country. A policeman bears a colossal moral responsibility as well being able to fight or support the evil. The question is what should be done to prevent policemen from supporting the evil and destroying the state foundation? I think that the representatives of the leading religious denominations should play a greater role in educating young policemen. Today, only they can instill to young policemen the required ideas of a hero who one wants to copy in detail. Only with such a hero in heart, boys and girls will be able to resist the criminal pest," explained he.
Commissioner for Human Rights Vladimir Lukin in the Russian Federation stated that the personal example of the immediate leadership exercised a much stronger influence on the policemen that all regulations imposed from above. Alexander Chekalin, former First Deputy Minister of the Interior of the Russian Federation and member of the federation Council, brought forward a proposal to turn the MVD into a "dry law" area.
Alexander Chekalin also pointed out that the leadership of Russia's MVD should personally control the work in the regions in order to identify the extent of trust to the police. "The generalship should dedicate 2012 to travelling about the regions and monitoring the performance at the local level, evaluating the organization efficiency and the personnel potential, and organizing the citizens' reception," he said emphasizing that it could help identify the extent of trust or mistrust towards the police in the regions.
Chekalin cited an example of Minister of the Interior Rashid Nurgaliyev of the Russian Federation who personally visited all MVD main administrations in 83 regions of the country the previous year.
At the end of the event, the Head of the Russian Ministry of the Interior was shown a new medical device accompanied by the description of its basic characteristics. This new device measures blood pressure, pulse and the alcoholic fumes content in blood. All the methods are non-invasive, and the readings are sent to the central database where it is impossible to delete them from. The advantage of the device is that it takes you only 3 minutes to get a general idea of a person's health.
Press Center of Russia's MVD
