Dagestan's Interior Ministry veterans have proposed police reform.

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A month ago, a group of public figures, including veterans of the Dagestan Ministry of Internal Affairs, sent an appeal to Russian President Vladimir Putin proposing strategic reform within the agency. They believe that only urgent reform can resolve the problem of corruption within the ministry. A month later, there has been no response to the appeal.

Retired Police Colonel Amir Kolov, together with veterans of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and other law enforcement agencies, including those from Dagestan, drafted proposals for strategic reform of the Ministry of Internal Affairs system.

"About 200 heads of public organizations, distinguished individuals, academics, generals, and heroes signed and sent an appeal to the President of Russia on December 25th, containing evidence, documents, and attachments, so that the President would issue an order or, at the very least, take the initiative to reform the Ministry of Internal Affairs system. Because the Ministry of Internal Affairs has been transformed into a criminal organization and operates in an anti-people regime. We laid out all of this in the appeal itself and attached a brochure of my project for reforming the Ministry of Internal Affairs system. "They've sent this too, but so far, nothing," Kolov told a "Caucasian Knot" correspondent on January 27, noting that more than a month has passed, but there's been no response, and he's no longer holding out much hope for one.

According to Kolov, the main problem at the Ministry of Internal Affairs is personnel selection. "It's gotten to the point where management is proposing to hire previously convicted individuals with expunged convictions. This is unacceptable. But the most important thing is there must be motivation. Employees must be committed. But within the agency itself, corruption mechanisms have been implemented in such a way that employees are simply forced, by unwritten laws, to become corrupt from the very beginning. Because their superiors demand kickbacks and bribes from them, and on the other hand, they are punished for the bribes, for taking bribes. But how can this vicious circle be eliminated? We need to eliminate the de facto caste system within the agency, where leadership positions are handed over to people from "their own" "The clan, not professional and moral qualities," Kolov explained.

According to him, the Ministry of Internal Affairs has loopholes for corruption. "Each department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs has a salary accumulation fund. This fund accumulates, so to speak, surplus money. Since many departments of the Ministry of Internal Affairs are understaffed (sometimes up to 40% short), and funds are allocated, this 'extra' salary goes into this fund. Money is also deposited there if an employee is deprived of a bonus. And then, at the end of the year, at the discretion of the managers, this money is distributed among themselves. Of course, the managers take a million for themselves, and the employees get pennies, crumbs. And this distribution is a corrupt mechanism: whoever is closer to the authorities receives more," Kolov said.

In his opinion, personnel selection for the Ministry of Internal Affairs should be conducted through independent structures. "Recruitment can be conducted through public structures so that the best people are selected, not those with previous convictions. The very idea of ​​hiring previously convicted individuals with expunged convictions is already a sign of sabotage against the state," Kolov believes.

The caste system in the Ministry of Internal Affairs must be overcome

Journalist Sergey Komkov agrees that the very approach to law enforcement, which is currently called the internal affairs system, must be urgently changed.

"We need to seriously address the investigation system. Investigation is practically nonexistent in the police today. They recruit anyone and everyone. People who work in investigations undergo no background checks or internships. People who have received a general legal education or general vocational training through police academies should be recruited to work in investigative agencies. "Investigative bodies are a special kind of work that requires specialized training," he told a "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

According to the journalist, the caste system in the Ministry of Internal Affairs also needs to be overcome. "Even (Russian Interior Minister Vladimir) Kolokoltsev himself spoke about this, speaking at a meeting of the Ministry of Internal Affairs board. He said that a clan-based leadership system has developed within the Ministry of Internal Affairs today. Appointments to leadership positions should be based on genuine professional merit, not clan affiliation," Komkov explained.

Police departments need to create transparent offices.

Entrepreneur and public figure Kamaludin Mikailov believes that without reforms, there will be no change in employee behavior.

"Why are groups emerging within the Ministry of Internal Affairs that have the ability to control public financial flows, and why are oligarchs emerging? They are sometimes caught with tons of money because the system isn't consistently designed to take modern realities into account, and there aren't established mechanisms to prevent this corrupt system. "If they leave it like this, it will become a heavy yoke around the state's neck," he told a "Caucasian Knot" correspondent. Mikailov sees one of the mechanisms for "transparency" in the Ministry of Internal Affairs' activities as making police department offices literally transparent. "We need to change the design of the premises within the departments themselves so they don't look like separate secret offices gradually descending into criminal organizations. That's why incidents of torture, beatings, and even murder occur in such closed offices. Look at what happened in Makhachkala. They brought in a witness, started talking to him, turned the conversation into a fight, and then the man was murdered. And this has happened more than once. The system must be transparent, both literally and figuratively, so to speak. Of course, they didn't just abolish closed offices in the US. They want to see who they brought in, how they interrogated them, and what was going on," Mikailov concluded.

The police today are pitted against the people

Magomed Shamilov, head of the Independent Trade Union of Police Officers of Dagestan, believes reform is necessary for the Ministry of Internal Affairs itself.

"This is essentially a lifeline for the sinking Ministry of Internal Affairs. The police today are pitted against the people. If concrete measures aren't taken immediately, this won't end well. We need reform of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, starting with the selection of candidates for university positions. We need people who would find the police their natural element—that's where their talents shine. And after receiving special training, they will perform real miracles. And now they are selecting candidates who will master two arithmetic operations: subtraction and division. "And that's where these billionaires, the disgrace of the system, the criminal under the protection of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, come from," Shamilov told a "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.