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Vol. 39, Nº 68 (Enero - Junio) 2021, 682-695
IEPDP-Facultad de Ciencias Jurídicas y Políticas - LUZ
Recibido el 15/10/2020 Aceptado el 28/01/2021
Regulatory framework for the ght
against corruption in the National
Police of Ukraine
DOI: https://doi.org/10.46398/cuestpol.3968.43
Vasylevych Vitalii
1
*
Mozol Stanislav
2
**
Poklonskyi Andrii
3
***
Poklonska Olena
4
****
Zeleniak Polina
5
*****
Abstract
The objective of the article is to analyze the main international
regulations on overcoming corruption in the police, as well as
the laws of Ukraine aimed at combating this phenomenon in
the National Police. The theme of the study is the analysis of
the legal framework for combating corruption in the police. The research
methodology includes the following general and special legal methods:
dialectical, logical, system-legal, normative-dogmatic, comparative-legal,
and legal modeling method. The results of the investigation indicate the
most effective means of combating corruption in the police of the most
developed countries. By way of conclusion and with practical signicance,
Ukrainian anti-corruption legislation against police ofcers has been shown
to be repressive, so it cannot be effective without measures to encourage
law-abiding behaviour and the sense of anti-corruption of law enforcement
ofcers. Emphasis is placed on the need to take measures to encourage the
anti-corruption behaviour of police ofcers and to enshrine these provisions
in relevant regulations.
* PhD (Law), Professor, Professor of the Department of Criminology and Penal Law of the National
Academy of Internal Affairs, Ukraine. ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9351-4219. Email:
vavian3@ukr.net
** Doctor of Law, Senior Researcher, Associate Professor of the Department of Criminology and Penal
Law of the National Academy of Internal Affairs, Ukraine. ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-
2226-7908. Email: m_ctac@ukr.net
*** PhD (Law), Associate Professor, Professor of the Department of Private Law Disciplines of the Private
Law University of Modern Knowledge. ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6721-655X. Email:
subop@mail.ru
**** PhD (Law), Associate Professor, Professor of the Department of Public Law Disciplines of the Private
Law University of Modern Knowledge. ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2079-1044. Email:
Lenmok@mail.ru
***** PhD (Law), Lecturer of the Department of Criminology and Penal Law of the National
Academy of Internal Affairs, Ukraine. ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0615-0803.
Email: zelenyak2122@gmail.com
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Keywords: anti-corruption; corruption in the police; Ukraine’s national
police; international anti-corruption legislation; legal
dissipations.
Marco regulatorio para la lucha contra la corrupción
en la Policía Nacional de Ucrania
Resumen
El objetivo del artículo es analizar las principales regulaciones
internacionales sobre la superación de la corrupción en la policía, así
como las leyes de Ucrania destinadas a combatir este fenómeno en la
Policía Nacional. El tema del estudio es el análisis del marco legal para
combatir la corrupción en la policía. La metodología de investigación
incluye los siguientes métodos legales generales y especiales: dialéctico,
lógico, sistema-legal, normativo-dogmático, comparativo-legal y método
de modelado legal. Los Resultados de la investigación indican cuales son
los medios más efectivos para combatir la corrupción en la policía de los
países más desarrollados. A modo de conclusión y con signicado práctico,
se ha demostrado que la legislación ucraniana de lucha contra la corrupción
contra los agentes de policía es represiva, por lo que no puede ser ecaz sin
medidas para fomentar el comportamiento respetuoso de la ley y el sentido
de anticorrupción de los agentes del orden. Se hace hincapié en la necesidad
de tomar medidas para fomentar el comportamiento anticorrupción de
los agentes de policía y consagrar estas disposiciones en las regulaciones
pertinentes.
Palabras clave: lucha contra la corrupción; corrupción en la policía;
policía nacional de Ucrania; legislación internacional
anticorrupción; disipaciones legales.
Introduction
The ght against corruption in Ukraine is one of the main tasks of
law enforcement agencies (Shcherbakovskyi et al., 2020). The National
Police of Ukraine is an executive body whose main tasks are the protection
of human rights and freedoms, the ght against crime, the maintenance
of public safety and order. To perform these and a number of other
functions, police ofcers must act lawfully, transparently and impartially.
Unfortunately, the population often faces manifestations of unscrupulous
behavior of law enforcement ofcers, as evidenced by numerous appeals of
citizens to the relevant authorities.
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Vasylevych Vitalii, Mozol Stanislav, Poklonskyi Andrii, Poklonska Olena y Zeleniak Polina
Regulatory framework for the ght against corruption in the National Police of Ukraine
The level of corruption in law enforcement agencies is growing every
year. Thus, in 2020, 175 employees of the National Police were included in
the Register of Corruption; 12 of them have been prosecuted for corruption
offenses: 5 police ofcers – for accepting an offer, promise or receiving
an illegal benet, 7 police ofcers – for abusing inuence, i.e. accepting
an offer, promise or receiving an illegal benet for themselves or another
person for inuencing a decision. 156 employees of the National Police were
brought to administrative responsibility for late submission of property
declarations (National Agency on Corruption Prevention, 2020).
International treaties play a particularly important role in preventing
and countering corruption, given the global nature of the problem of
corruption (Bondarenko et al., 2020). There are a number of international
instruments, on which the relevant legislation of the Member States is
built, to prevent and combat corruption in the police. That is why anti-
corruption measures in foreign countries are overwhelmingly similar.
This is also explained by the processes of integration of legislation, active
intergovernmental coordination of measures to combat offenses with signs
of corruption, and the exchange of experience in conducting specic anti-
corruption measures.
To a greater extent, this applies to EU countries, although each country
still has specic features given the peculiarities of their development,
legal traditions, mentality and degree of activity of citizens (Grigorenko,
2014). Therefore, within this article we will consider the main international
regulations on corruption prevention in the police agencies, which became
the basis for the development of relevant legislation of Ukraine in this area,
as well as regulations of our State aimed at corruption prevention in the
National Police of Ukraine.
1. Methodology
The methodology of the Article is based on general and special methods of
scientic knowledge, the use of which is determined by the purpose, object,
and subject of research. Axiological method was applied to substantiate the
importance of international and domestic regulations in the prevention of
corruption offenses committed by the police. The method of hermeneutics
was used in the process of studying international and domestic legal acts
regulating the issue under consideration with their further interpretation.
The method of analysis and synthesis helped to clarify the content of
legal mechanism for preventing corruption offenses committed by police
ofcers. The method of induction and deduction allowed to specify areas
for improving legal measures for preventing corruption offenses committed
by police. Legal and comparative method was used in order to compare
the measures to prevent corruption offenses committed by police ofcers in
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Ukraine and in some other countries. The method of generalization helped
to draw conclusions and suggestions.
2. Literature Review
The problems of corruption in the police have been studied by a large
number of foreign and domestic scientists. For example, Moran (2002)
examines anti-corruption strategies used by police in some areas of the
United States and England. The author also studies the risks of corruption,
compares different methods of combating this negative phenomenon and
analyzes the role of specially authorized bodies to combat corruption.
Arrigo and Claussen (2003) believe that testing individuals before they
are employed as police ofcers is an effective means of preventing corruption
offenses, but it is currently used with a number of errors. Instead, researchers
propose an authors’ method of conducting a preemployment screening of
law enforcement personnel, which should provide an appropriate level of
assessment of trends in the behavior of future law enforcement ofcers and
their propensity to corruption.
According to Punch (2000), corruption accompanies police activity
constantly, and it is not a phenomenon that is so easy to eradicate. This
requires a number of measures (management control, anti-corruption
strategy, appropriate standards of conduct, effective methods of investigating
such offenses), which must be harmoniously combined. To determine the
most effective measures to combat this phenomenon, the author examines
the experience of the 4 most progressive countries – USA, Great Britain,
Belgium, and the Netherlands. The article uses the scientic works of such
domestic scientists as Grigorenko (2014), Khan (2019), Kubaienko (2017),
as well as a number of international and domestic regulations governing
the relevant issues in this area.
3. Results and Discussion
In 1979, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe adopted
the Declaration on the Police (Parliamentary Assembly, 1979). It sets out
the rules of civil service in the police, denes the procedure for execution of
orders and the procedure for issuing orders from superiors to subordinates,
as well as ethical provisions to be followed by police ofcers of different
countries. These standards are aimed to ensure the integrity, incorruptibility
and ethical conduct of law enforcement ofcers when performing their
functions, to promote the development of measures necessary to prevent,
detect, punish, and eradicate police corruption, and bring corrupt police
ofcers to responsibility. According to the provisions of the Declaration,
a police ofcer should act honestly, impartially, with a sense of personal
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Vasylevych Vitalii, Mozol Stanislav, Poklonskyi Andrii, Poklonska Olena y Zeleniak Polina
Regulatory framework for the ght against corruption in the National Police of Ukraine
dignity, refrain from corruption and resolutely oppose it; the police ofcer
must carry out instructions duly given by his superior, but he (she) must
refrain from following the instructions if he (she) is aware or should be
aware that they are illegal; no criminal or administrative punishment may
be applied to a police ofcer who refuses to carry out an illegal order; the
police ofcer must bear personal responsibility for his (her) actions, as well
as for illegal actions or omission committed on his instructions; a manager
who will be responsible for the actions or omission of an employee should
be appointed.
Given the urgency of ensuring the protection of the law enforcement
system from corruption, the Global standards to combat corruption in
police forces/services (Interpol, 2002) were adopted at the 71
st
session
of the General the Interpol Assembly in Cameroon. These standards are
aimed at ensuring honesty, integrity and ethical conduct of police ofcers
when performing their functions, assistance in developing the necessary
measures to prevent, detect, punish, and eradicate corruption in the police
of each Interpol member country, as well as to bring corrupt police ofcers
to justice.
The concept of “corruption”, given the above standards, covers all forms
of abuse of power or ofcial position, misuse of authority, bribery and other
abuses (unlawful dissemination of condential or restricted information,
participation as organizer, performer, co-executor, instigator or accomplice
in any of these acts, etc).
In order to prevent and combat corruption in the activities of police
ofcers, the General Standards provide for the following measures (Article
4):
• use of disincentives to bribe individualswho perform or participate
in the exercise of police functions or related functions.
• making every effort to ensure that mechanisms and systems for
preventing, detecting, punishing, and eradicating corruption in the
exercise of police functions or related functions in police forces/
services are in line with current practice recognized by the Interpol
General Assembly.
• existence of an effective system that obliges police ofcers to report
corruption and to protect those who report such facts in good faith.
• establishing mechanisms to encourage the participation of civil
society in activities to prevent corruption in police forces/services.
• establishing and ensuring procedures for declaring and registering
income, assets and commitments of police ofcers and the members
of their families.
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The provisions of international legal acts are reected in the relevant
legislation of the signatory countries. Our State has implemented these norms
in the Law of Ukraine “On Corruption Prevention” (LU 2014, October 14).
At the same time, the special Law – the Law of Ukraine “On the National
Police” (LU 580-VIII/2015, July 02) does not contain specic provisions
on preventing or overcoming corruption in the police agencies. Therefore,
when determining the range of anti-corruption measures in these agencies,
one should rst refer to the provisions of the general law “On Corruption
Prevention”, which state that the police ofcers are the subjects covered
by this Law. A similar provision is contained in Part 1 of Article 61 of the
Law of Ukraine “On the National Police”, the provision of which states that
“Police ofcers are subject to the restrictions set by the Law of Ukraine “On
Corruption Prevention” and other laws of Ukraine”.
Thus, the current legislation includes the measures to prevent corruption
in the police:
1. Restrictions on the use of ofcial powers or the position (Article
22 of the Law). A police ofcer is prohibited from using his or her
ofcial authority or position and related powers to gain an improper
benet for himself (herself) or others, including the use of any State
or municipal property or funds in the private interest.
2. Restrictions on receiving gifts (Article 23 of the Law). It is prohibited
to demand, ask for, and receive gifts for themselves or their relatives
from legal entities or individuals directly or through other persons.
3. Restrictions on combination police activity with other activities
(Article 25 of the Law of Ukraine “On Corruption Prevention” and
Article 66 of the Law of Ukraine “On the National Police”). Police
ofcers are prohibited from engaging in any other paid (other
than teaching, research and creative activities, medical practice,
instructional and judicial practice in sports) or entrepreneurial
activities, be the members of the board, other executive or
supervisory bodies, the supervisory board of the enterprise or
organization with the purpose to receive the prot (except for cases
when persons exercise management of shares owned by the State
or territorial community, and represent the interests of the State or
territorial community in the council (supervisory board), the audit
commission of the business organization).
4. Restrictions on joint work of close persons (Article 27 of the Law).
Police ofcers may not have direct control over persons close to
them or be directly subordinate to them in connection with the
performance of duties by persons close to them. When hiring, a
police ofcer is obliged to inform the management of the body in
which he (she) is applying for the position of persons close to them,
who are working in this body.
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Vasylevych Vitalii, Mozol Stanislav, Poklonskyi Andrii, Poklonska Olena y Zeleniak Polina
Regulatory framework for the ght against corruption in the National Police of Ukraine
5. Restrictions after the cessation of activities related to the performance
of functions of the State and local self-government (Article 26 of the
Law). Police ofcers who have resigned or otherwise terminated
activities related to the performance of State functions are
prohibited from: - concluding employment agreements (contracts)
or entering into transactions in the area of entrepreneurial activity
with legal entities of private law or natural persons-entrepreneurs
within a year from the date of termination of the relevant activity, if
police ofcers exercised control powers, supervising or preparing or
making appropriate decisions regarding the activities of these legal
entities or natural persons-entrepreneurs;
6. disclosing or otherwise using in their interest’s information that
has become known to them in connection with the performance of
ofcial duties, except as provided by law; - representing the interests
of any person in cases (including those before the courts) in which
the other party is the body, enterprise, institution, organization in
which (which) they worked on the moment of termination of the
specied activity within a year from the date of termination of the
relevant activity. 6) Prevention and settlement of conicts of interest
(Article 28 of the Law). Police ofcers are obliged to take measures to
prevent the occurrence of real, potential conict of interest, to notify
the immediate superior about actual or potential conict of interest
no later than the next working day from the moment when the
person learned or should have learned about the conict of interest,
to take measures to resolve real or potential conict of interest.
Police ofcers may not directly or indirectly encourage subordinates
to make decisions in any way, commit acts or omissions contrary to
the law in favor of their private interests or the private interests of
third parties.
7. Financial control (Section VII of the Law), which provides for the
following actions: submission by police of declarations of persons
authorized to perform the functions of the State or local self-
government; accounting and publication of such declarations;
their control and inspection by the National Agency of Corruption
Prevention; establishing the terms for submission of declarations;
monitoring the way of life of the declaring subjects (in order to
establish the conformity of their standard of living to the property
available to them and their family members and the income received
by them in accordance with the declaration of the person authorized
to perform the functions of State or local self-government); additional
measures of nancial control (the obligation of police ofcers to
notify the National Agency of Corruption Prevention on the opening
of foreign currency account in a non-resident bank by them or the
members of their families, the receipt of income, acquisition of
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property or expenditure in excess of 50 subsistence minimums for
employable persons as of January 01 of the respective year by by
them or the members of their families, features of nancial control
measures in relation to certain categories of persons.
8. Prohibition on the receipt of benets, services, and property by the
National Police.
9. Special inspection (Article 56 of the Law of Ukraine “On Corruption
Prevention” and Part 3 of Article 50 of the Law of Ukraine “On
the National Police”). Information on the person applying for
the position of a police ofcer is subject to special verication, in
particular on: the existence of a court decision that has entered into
force, according to which the person is prosecuted (including for
corruption offenses), as well as the presence of a criminal record, its
removal or expunging; the fact that the person has been previously
subjected to administrative penalties for corruption-related
offenses; the accuracy of the information specied in the declaration
of the person authorized to perform the functions of the State or
local self-government; the fact that a person is holding corporate
rights; medical condition (in terms of a person’s registration
in psychoneurological or narcological health care institutions);
education, availability of a scientic degree, academic title; a
person’s attitude to military service; the access to the State secret,
if such admission is required in accordance with the qualication
requirements for a particular position; prohibition of a person from
holding relevant position provided by the provisions of the Law of
Ukraine “On the clearance of the authorities”.
10. Restrictions on service in the police. The Law of Ukraine “On the
National Police” (Article 61) stipulates that a person who has been
subjected to administrative or criminal liability for committing an
offense related to corruption cannot be a police ofcer.
Disciplinary measures under Ukrainian law are also deterrent measures
for police ofcers from committing corruption offenses. Thus, according to
paragraph 9, Part 1, Art. 77 of the Law of Ukraine “On the National Police”
a police ofcer is dismissed from service in the police, and the service in
the police is terminated due to direct subordination to a close person.
According to paragraph 10 of the same article, a police ofcer is dismissed
from the police service in case of entry into force of a court decision to
prosecute a police ofcer for an administrative offense related to corruption
or a criminal offense (including corruption).
Additionally, according to Part 5, Art. 17 of the Law of Ukraine “On the
disciplinary Statute of the National Police” (LU 2337-VIII/2018, March 15)
during the trial of the case of corruption, administrative or criminal offense
of a police ofcer, the latter may be suspended from ofce.
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Vasylevych Vitalii, Mozol Stanislav, Poklonskyi Andrii, Poklonska Olena y Zeleniak Polina
Regulatory framework for the ght against corruption in the National Police of Ukraine
In addition, administrative or even criminal measures may be taken
regarding the police, guilty of committing corruption offenses. Indeed,
according to the provisions of the Code of Ukraine on Administrative
Offenses (LU 1984, December 07), law enforcement ofcers are prosecuted
for the following administrative corruption offenses: violation of
restrictions on holding a job or combining it with other activities (Article
172-4); violation of statutory restrictions on the receipt of gifts (Article 172-
5); violation of nancial control requirements (Article 172-6); violation of
the requirements for the prevention and settlement of conicts of interest
(Article 172-7); illegal use of information that has become known to a person
in connection with the performance of ofcial duties (Article 172-8); failure
to take measures to combat corruption (Article 172-9).
Criminal sanctions for police ofcers guilty of committing criminal
corruption offenses are enshrined in the Criminal Code of Ukraine (LU
2001, April 05).
Such offenses are: misappropriation, embezzlement or conversion or
property by malversation (Article 191); use of budget funds by an ofcial
contrary to their target allocation or in amounts exceeding approved
expenditure limits, and also failure to comply with requirements related
to proportional decrease of budget expenses or proportional nancing of
expenditure items of budgets of all levels pursuant to applicable budget
legislation, where large amounts of budget funds are involved (Article 210);
stealing, appropriation or extortion of rearms, ammunition, explosives
or radioactive material, or obtaining them by fraud of abuse of ofce
(Article 262); stealing, appropriation, extortion of narcotics, psychotropic
substances or their analogues, or acquisition of same by fraud or abuse
of ofce (Article 308); stealing, appropriation, extortion of precursors, or
acquisition of precursors by fraud or abuse of ofce (Article 312).
Stealing, appropriation, extortion of equipment devised for making of
narcotic or psychotropic substances, or their analogues, or acquisition of such
equipment by fraud or abuse of ofce, and other unlawful actions involving
such equipment (Article 313); violation of rules related to circulation of
narcotics, psychotropic substances, their analogues or precursors (Article
320); bribery of an employee of an enterprise, institution or organization
(Article 354); stealing, appropriation, or extortion of documents, stamps
and seals, or acquiring them by fraud or abuse of ofce, or endamagement
thereof (Article 364); abuse of power by an ofcial of a legal entity of private
law, regardless of the organizational and legal form (Article 364-1); abuse
of power by persons providing public services (Article 365-2); acceptance of
an offer, promise or receipt of an illegal benet by an ofcial (Article 368);
illicit enrichment (Articles 368-2); bribery of an ofcial of a legal entity of
private law, regardless of the organizational and legal form (Article 368-
3); bribery of a person providing public services (Articles 368-4); offer,
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promise or provision of illegal benet to an ofcial (Article 369); abuse of
inuence (Articles 369-2); stealing, appropriation, extortion or fraudulent
obtaining of weapons, ammunitions, explosive or other warfare substances,
vehicles, military or special enginery, or other munitions, or abuse of ofce,
by a military serviceman (Article 410).
Taking into account the above stated, one can see that Ukrainian anti-
corruption legislation against police ofcers is of repressive nature, as most
corruption offenses are criminally liable.
The repressive mechanism cannot give an effective result without the
introduction of measures to encourage obedient, anti-corruption behavior
of police ofcers. Such measures are preventive in nature and aimed at
leveling the desire of employees to violate anti-corruption legislation
(Khan, 2019).
And we completely agree with this opinion. For example, the US police
have set a high pension for employees who have a perfect track record.
It all starts with careful selection, because it depends not only on the
professionalism and competence of police ofcers, but also their resistance
to moral temptations. Particular attention is paid to maintaining a high
level of prestige of the police profession in society: each candidate has
education, knowledge of a foreign language, impeccable biography not only
of the candidate but also of his (her) family members, high degree of stress
resistance, moral and volitional qualities, etc. (Grigorenko, 2014: 167).
Besides, the level of corruption in the police is signicantly affected by
the low level of material support of law enforcement. We consider this a
serious mistake of the State, as the lack of nancial motivation does not
encourage police to cherish the service and refuse bribes. At the same time,
it is important not only to increase salaries, but also to provide them with
personal and medical insurance, to grant preferential conditions for the
purchase of personal housing, access to free higher education, and so on.
Thus, the salaries of US police ofcers were signicantly increased in
the 1980s, as well as there was an introduction of additional social benets.
And if American policemen used to be from the lower middle class, now
they belong to the upper middle class.
Anti-corruption education, to which our country pays little attention,
also takes an important place in prevention of corruption offenses. At the
same time, this measure is actively used and proves its effectiveness in
many countries around the world.
For example, in the Financial Police of Italy, anti-corruption prevention
issues are studied in special courses. Anti-corruption workshops are
common in the law enforcement agencies of the United Kingdom, Denmark,
Moldova, and Poland, during which special attention is paid to preparing
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Vasylevych Vitalii, Mozol Stanislav, Poklonskyi Andrii, Poklonska Olena y Zeleniak Polina
Regulatory framework for the ght against corruption in the National Police of Ukraine
police ofcers for actions in case of provoking bribes or forcing them to
commit other illegal acts (Grigorenko, 2014).
The main goal of anti-corruption education is, rstly, to train professionals
who will have the necessary professional skills and will be able to participate
in the work of anti-corruption bodies; secondly, anti-corruption education
will help to increase the level of legal culture and culture of public relations,
devoid of elements of corruption, contribute to the conscious rejection of the
phenomenon of corruption and its manifestations; thirdly, anti-corruption
education is a component of anti-corruption propaganda and educates a
person in the spirit of non-acceptance of corruption; fourthly, it facilitates
access to reliable information on the phenomenon of corruption. Anti-
corruption education is provided in educational institutions in the form
of teaching special courses on anti-corruption issues. Such activities can
be carried out both by training police cadets and by working with current
police ofcers within relevant trainings, seminars, etc. (Khan, 2019).
Much attention is also paid to the selection of candidates for the position
of police ofcer. For example, in Canada, a police screening of a job applicant
begins with the collection of information about a person after reaching the
age of 12 (the State considers that it is the period of a person’s personality
formation), his (her) contacts at the place of previous and current residence,
work or service (Kubaienko, 2017).
In the United States, police departments pay special attention to the issue
of their stafng. High moral standards and fairly strict rules of conduct and
discipline have been set for job candidates, as well as for police ofcers at
all levels. Strict selection of candidates for the service has been introduced,
which provides for a lie detector test. The Federal Bureau of Investigation,
whose main task is to ght corruption, is constantly moving staff from one
place to another to reduce the possibility of merging with local authorities
and organized crime. Besides, there is a special department of internal
investigations in the FBI’s Main Directorate, which checks information
about abuses of its employees (Grigorenko, 2014).
Besides, the United States monitors the well-being of police ofcers and
their families by verifying declarations, monitoring credit card balances,
valuing property owned by them, etc.
Conclusions
Thus, the National Police of Ukraine is a central executive body
that implements State policy in the area of protection of human rights
and freedoms, the interests of society and the State, combating crime,
maintaining public safety and order.
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Despite the fact that the National Police is one of the specially authorized
entities in the area of anti-corruption, the cases of corruption offenses in the
police are not isolated, as evidenced by numerous complaints from citizens
and relevant statistics.
To overcome this problem, Ukraine has implemented the provisions of
international regulations on the prevention and ght against corruption in
the police in its own legislation. Although the special Law “On the National
Police” does not enshrine the relevant provisions, it refers to the Law “On
Corruption Prevention”, which directly prescribes measures to prevent
corruption in the police.
The Criminal Code of Ukraine and the Code of Ukraine on Administrative
Offenses enshrine corruption offenses for which criminal or administrative
liability arises, as well as provide for appropriate sanctions. The Disciplinary
Statute of the National Police provides for disciplinary liability for law
enforcement ofcers guilty of committing corruption offenses.
Ukrainian anti-corruption legislation against police ofcers is of
repressive nature, that’s why it cannot work effectively without measures to
encourage law-abiding, anti-corruption behavior of police ofcers.
This issue is addressed somewhat differently in progressive States:
preference is given to anti-corruption education, careful selection of
candidates, monitoring of their lifestyle, determining their susceptibility
to corrupt behavior, creating a system of incentives for impeccable record,
ensuring an adequate standard of living for police ofcers and their families.
Therefore, despite the fact that Ukrainian legislation in this area generally
meets European standards, we, based on international experience, still need
to move away from the repressive mechanism and implement measures to
encourage anti-corruption behavior aimed at leveling the desire of police
ofcers to violate anti-corruption legislation, and enshrine these latter in
relevant regulations.
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Esta revista fue editada en formato digital y publicada
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Vol.39 Nº 68