A few pieces of advice to the new Chief of Police
“When I was just appointed the head of the Main Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, he was Vano Siradeghyan’s assistant… he knows quite well my approaches, my assessments. I don’t think it is appropriate to say anything else, but he is not aware of all that yet”, said Garnik Margaryan, the former high-ranking officer of the security, defense and law enforcement agencies, in response to “Aravot’s” question “how will you assess Vladimir Gasparyan’s appointment as Chief of Police and taking into account the fact that he is not a newcomer in the system, what hopes of positive changes in the system can one cherish?” My interlocutor did not think solid to speak publicly about Vladimir Gasparyan’s positive and negative traits. He said that he had said to Vladimir Gasparyan about that lots of times and would say again “tête-à-tête” if necessary. In any case, Margaryan thinks it is positive that Gasparyan has gotten good training for the past 20 years, “He should avoid extremes and following unlawful orders. I would suggest he doesn’t fulfill the orders of certain functionaries. As we have not. He is educated, as opposed to many, and he started with being a private and reached that office. He should think that he is a man of this county, born and brought up in this city and he will continue living here – he should act so as to be able to boldly go outside, live respectably and enjoy, once he resigns.”
I also asked Mr. Margaryan to analyze the office shifts, in particular, in the police of the Republic of Armenia from quality and professional perspectives. He preferred to speak of global problems in the system instead of little changes. “I have my explanation and I am ready to argue with any opponent, the changes in the police should be started with the law. The law in effect does not solve the structural problems of the system. The former territorial division does not exist, but the former institutions of the internal affairs operate and nobody knows what for. There are also serious violations of procedural rules – there is no former region, but there is the police department and that department has jurisdiction over the settlements of that region, let it have, but the head of the internal affairs division and the division were gathering material, preventing and revealing crimes, launching cases, and handing those over to the investigation bodies and the attorney’s office. Now if there is no region and there is no supervising attorney or court in the given area, controversies emerge”, says my interlocutor. Garnik Margaryan doesn’t think that the name is appropriate and thinks that calling it “vostikanutyun” (satrapy) is impermissible, as it is learned from the history that the Arab invaders of the 6-7th centuries were called vostikanner (satraps). The former high-ranking officer thinks that in Armenia it is impermissible to “attach” that name to a security force that ought to secure the human rights and suggests renaming the police militia that originates not from USSR, but from armed units of the Italian labors who were enforcing public order, “The rationale of an institution’s activities should be clarified starting with its name. What do we want – to create an atmosphere of fear or to enforce public order, to defend every member of the society, if the latter is law-abiding. After the demolition of the Soviet system, the police have become a guarantor of the regime, the political junta that uses clubs and weapons against the people, even peacefully rallying in the street. Unfortunately, there are dozens of such examples. Let us change the rationale of this institution’s activities by 180 degrees and then let us think of other problems. This is the first thing.” In his opinion, the social problems of the system workers are not solved either by the law in effect, which is not less important, “It is very good that an inspector of the attorney’s office or an attorney are paid good salaries and pensions, but the workers of the internal affairs are paid thrice less. What is the rationale here?”
The former high-ranking officer is displeased also with the current educational qualification of the system, “Let us randomly choose 10 workers of internal affairs in the street – no one of them, I am sure, knows the law. Not to mention rules of criminal procedure and the elements of those, their rights and duties, the rights and obligations of the citizen. The institutions that are to provide professional training work badly.”
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NELLY GRIGORYAN
