Municipal Police: Experience of EU Countries and Prospects for its Implementation in Ukraine

Abstract

Problem setting. The article deals with the legal regulation of the municipal police in Ukraine and in some countries of the European Union. The order of the formation, structure and competence of the municipal police in some EU countries are analysed in order to improve the activities of Ukrainian law enforcement agencies. Target of research. The purpose of the study is to analyze the experience of some European Union countries regarding the activities of the municipal police and to determine the prospects for its implementation in Ukraine. Analysis of recent researches and publications. The following scientists analyze the subject of the municipal police and various aspects of its activities in their researches: N.V. Kapitonova, N. P. Matiukhina, V. A. Orlov, N. V. Kharchenko and others. Article’s main body. Municipal police is a body formed by the respective territorial community through local self-government bodies, acts on the grounds and in the manner prescribed by law, exercises powers to ensure law and order in the territory of the community concerned. Having analysed the experience of such European Union countries as Poland, the Czech Republic and Latvia regarding the formation and operation of municipal police, it is possible to make certain proposals for the implementation of the relevant body in Ukraine. The appropriate body should be established by the appropriate local council, which would simultaneously establish its structure. It is also legally necessary to determine the possibility of establishing a joint municipal police at once by several territorial communities, and in case of not creating a municipal police; its function should be performed by the National Police. The competence of the municipal police should include: ensuring public order and security; protection of communal property objects; patrolling human settlements for the purpose of detecting offenses; control over observance of rules of improvement; assistance to the National Police in the field of crime prevention, assistance in their disclosure; control within the limits established by law, in compliance with the Rules of the road, in particular regarding the proper parking of vehicles; the delivery of drunk people who are in a state of alcohol, narcotic or other intoxication to the sobering-up station or at the place of residence, if their actions defame human dignity or pose a danger to public order; making decisions on imposition of sanctions for certain administrative offenses and drawing up protocols on administrative violations and transferring them for consideration to administrative commissions, etc. Conclusions and prospects for the development. Based on the analysis of European experience, we have formulated proposals for the introduction of municipal police in Ukraine as a body of local self-government for ensuring law and order, reflected in electronic petitions to the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine and the President of Ukraine. It should be noted that these proposals were formulated taking into account certain national characteristics. Thus, in particular, the head of the relevant municipal police and his deputies should be appointed by the local council with the obligatory agreement with the head of the regional administration of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and if necessary, the Ministry of Internal Affairs should be able to withdraw the head of the municipal police from office to ensure the independence of the municipal police from private interests of local authorities. In general, the municipal police should not become an organ that exists to protect the interests of the local elite, but an authority that will increase the people's trust in law enforcement agencies.