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Ukraine’s National Police Recruiting Center: Over 4200 candidates to the National Police assessed in Kyiv and Kyiv region

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Kyiv, December 25, 2015. As of today, assessment committee for the National Police of Ukraine made decisions regarding 4,254 out of 13,500 former militia officers. Out of them 512 were officers from the central department, 2,192 – militia officers from Kyiv city and 1,150 from Kyiv region. “Positive decisions (…) have been made regarding 3,489 officers: 431 – central department officers, 1,916 – Kyiv city and 1,342 from Kyiv region. 565 officers received negative assessment results, i.e. recommendations to dismiss them due to being inconsistent with job. If we calculate the proportion of this figure to the total number of considered cases and made decision, we will end with 13 percent,” said a spokesperson of Ukraine’s National Police Recruiting Center, Olena Diatlova, at a press briefing in Ukraine Crisis Media Center. She also said that the two revision boards started working on December 22 and as of December 24 they received 223 complaints.

Ukraine’s National Police Recruiting Center carries out admission to the National Police. “It’s an absolutely independent agency,” said Diatlova. “The Center closely cooperates with international experts, although it is not a structural subdivision of the National Police”. Re-assessment of all former militia officers is conducted in compliance with the proven tests and methodologies provided by experts from the USA, Canada and EU countries. The assessment committee itself consists of the representatives of the National Police central department and patrol policemen, as well as civil society activists, including AvtoMaidan participants, members of the parliament and international experts. “The assessment committee has been formed not only to dismiss officers unable to serve in the ranks of the National Police in the future, but also find suitable candidates worthy of occupying top positions,” emphasized interim head of Ukraine’s National Police Legal Department and a member of assessment committee Colonel Volodymyr Zhydenko.

Candidates for new police officers pass a test on general knowledge and skills, professional test on legislation (a Law On the National Police, anti-corruption legislation and the Constitution). Field investigators and investigative officers also pass a test on regulations of criminal and procedural law and a law on operational investigation). Following this, the test results are submitted to the assessment committee together with the record listing information on places of service through all the years of working at law enforcement bodies, as well as a reference on whether this officer comes within the purview of the law on lustration, proof of income, reference on physical state and firing proficiency and materials from the open sources of information. According to Col.  Zhydenko, the latter “were the most helpful for the assessment committee in establishing objective truth on every person”. Moreover, the committee is entitled to invite police officers for a personal interview. “The question, asked during interviews, relate not only to the professional activity, but to the proof of income, service in general and the candidates’ vision of the National Police reform and their role in it,” said Col.  Zhydenko. Having considered the policeperson’s case, the committee makes either one of three positive decisions (on being consistent with job and continue service, on being consistent with job and promoted to higher position or being inconsistent with job and downgraded, but continue service) or a negative decision (the candidate is inconsistent with job and cannot continue service). Former militia officers who received negative assessment are entitled to apply to review board. “Two review boards include highly professional representatives of both the civic society and key executives of the National Police,” explained Col. Zhydenko.  Basing on the results of the appeal, the review board must pass a decision within one day and inform the policeperson on it within five days.

Commenting on the information on several officers from the former Ukrainian riot police ‘Berkut’ who have successfully passed a selection to the National Police, head of the National Police counsel Denys Kazvan, said that there are six applicants. Three of them gained the unanimous majority of the committee’s votes and the other three had one vote ‘against’ for receiving not more than a passing grade in testing. “They occupy only ordinary positions; one of them serves in mechanical transport company and is a driver. This means they are not making important decisions which might be the ground for the committee to make a positive decision,” explained Kazvan, saying neither of them participated in the events at Maidan, “I am sure not a single odious candidate, be he a former militia officer, ‘Berkut’ or traffic police inspector, cannot be accepted by the assessment committee,” added Col. Zhydenko. “We keep searching for information in open sources. There is a link on the web site of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, following which every citizen can provide us with information he owns. On this occasion, we call upon citizens and NGOs concerned with this process share such information with us,” said Diatlova. She added that in dubious cases members of the committee are entitled to suggest a policeperson should pass a lie-detector test.

Diatlova informed that a regional network of the Recruiting Center will be created to conduct re-assessment of former militia officers in other regions of Ukraine. “There will be permanent sites in 5-6 big cities, and our mobile teams will travel to other regions (…) and sites with computers for testing will be opened. The procedure will be the same for all the regions,” said Diatlova.