Press Release, November 26, 2013

According to head of the YABLOKO faction in the Legislative Assembly of St.Petersburg  Grigory Yavlinsky, the amendments to the Law on Police that he proposed will on the whole increase the citizens’ trust in the state. The draft was introduced  at the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg.

The current version of the Law on Police says that the use of the modern information and telecommunication system is allowed, but it isn’t obligatory. The law also doesn’t explain the order of the use of these equipment. The project proposed by Grigory Yavlinsky suggests that the premises of all the police units and police cars must be equipped with obligatory video observation. This means that all the episodes connected with the detention, inspection of documents, examination, interrogation, etc. of the citizens must be recorded. The record should be  taken down to a remote data carrier to avoid unauthorized editing. The system should provide the broadcast in the real time mode and the access to the system must be controlled by special rules of procedure.

The project also runs that the citizens and public groups that carry monitoring of police activities in accordance to the law can have the access to audio and video records, except for restricted date.

According to Grigory Yavlinsky, the video observation will both help to protect human rights and defend the interests of policemen in case the detained behave unlawfully.

Yavlinsky’s project also runs that policemen must have the badges with the full name, rank and position of the owner. At the moment police officers only get the badge with their identity numbers.

Leader of YABLOKO faction believes these measures will increase the discipline and performance efficiency of police officers, will make the police activities more transparent which will result in restoration of the citizens’ trust in the state.

The draft is published at the website of the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg