“Union of Informed Citizens” continues introducing the series on the foreign grants received by RA state bodies. This time we will introduce the grants received by the RA Police in 2005-2015.
“Not Grant Consumers?”
First of all, it is worth mentioning that the Police delayed the provision of the related information by all possible means. In general, we have been able to get information on received foreign grants from different ministries within one month at the latest. Nevertheless, in case of the Police, it took us one year to get the information.
In March 2015, we received a response from the RA Police claiming that the RA Police “did not receive” any grants for the period 2005-2014. They added that they had not received grants in the form of money but received assistance of advisory, educational nature and that the RA Police “do not have any information” on the amount related to the implementation of the aforementioned activities. Regarding the property and equipment received gratuitously, the RA Police informed that they do not carry out separate inventory and, hence, it is “not possible” to provide the information requested by our NGO.
Nevertheless, we were able to receive copies of delivery-acceptance acts of the property received by the RA Police and get an overall picture.
And so, the RA Police received 60 air conditioners, 70 printers and 45 UPS devices from the Armenian branch of the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) in 2007-2008.
In 2010, the OSCE provided 15 computers to the RA Police, which cost approximately 7,500 USD. However, the RA Police has received a much larger scale assistance from the OSCE and the UN in the form of staff training.
5,5 Million USD from the United States
The United States of America has been the main donor of the RA Police. In 2001, a letter-agreement was signed between the US and RA governments in the framework of which the RA Police received different devices and equipment from the US Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs.
For instance, the US Department of State provided real evidence collection equipment worth 20,000 USD to the RA Police in 2005. In 2006, the agreement on creating a 699,000 USD worth nationwide computer network of the RA Police was signed. In the same year, the US Department of State provided 40,000 USD worth sports equipment to the RA Police for the purpose of organizing the training of the Armenian policemen in the Police Academy and in the Police Educational Complex. In 2006, the RA Police received 3 cars worth 307,300 USD from the US United Armenian Fund. And in 2007, they received 6 cars worth 303,000 USD from the same fund.
In 2007, the US allocated 818,000 USD to the RA Police aimed at the creation of regional police computer network. In particular, the RA Police received 18 servers, 120 computers, 94 printers, and 94 scanners. In the same year, the RA Police General Department for Combatting Organized Crime received about 20,000 USD worth office and computer equipment, and the Police Academy received around 33,000 USD worth computers and classroom equipment.
The US Government has also provided additional assistance of 168,700 USD to the RA Government for the construction of 50 m shooting range and for the creation of the regional police computer network. The US Embassy has also installed more than 95,000 USD worth 4 simulation systems of Laser Shot (shooting ranges) in the RA Police Academy.
In 2008, the US Government provided additional assistance of 2,709,600 USD to the RA Police aimed at the implementation of a series of assistance programs. This funding was directed to the development of the forensic laboratory of the National Bureau of Expertise of the RA National Academy of Sciences, construction of a shooting range for the RA law enforcement bodies (RA Police 747,500 USD), assistance to the victims of trafficking, and enhancement of protection of the RA passport issuing system.
In 2009, the US Government provided 3 cars to the RA Police worth 110,000 USD. In 2011, the RA Police received 150,000 USD worth office and computer equipment from the US. In 2012, the RA Police received 50,000 USD worth computer equipment and in 2013 – 22,000 USD worth computer equipment from the US.
To sum up, the RA Police has received a total of 5,5 million USD worth (around half a billion AMD per year) property and equipment from the United States of America according to the information that we were able to collect.
Russian Language Textbooks from Russia
It should be added here that the US Embassy website in Yerevan mentions that the US Government provides an annual assistance of approximately 3 million USD to the Armenian law enforcement sphere.
However, in contrast to the American side, the cooperation of the RA Police with the Russian side is limited to participation in different events and receiving Russian language textbooks for the RAPolice Educational Complex from the delegation headed by the Russian Ambassador. The RA Police have not received any other property from the Russian side in the period 2005-2015.
Tatevik Vardanyan
“Union of Informed Citizens”
