Police Enforcement Strategies and Partnerships in Eastern Europe

About easstEASST is a partnership of local road safety organizations in:

• Armenia

• Azerbaijan

• Belarus

• Georgia

• Kazakhstan

• Kyrgyzstan

• Moldova

• Russia

• Tajikistan

• Ukraine

Through partnership, EASST Aims to:• Make road safety a priority for governments• Improve road safety management & policy• Improve enforcement• Promote safety across all 5 Pillars of the

UN Decade of Action• Facilitate regional and cross-border

initiatives• Share resources, training and best practice.

Established that the loss of human life and health are unacceptableEssential elements: • Strategic and institutional organization of road

safety policy;• Road safety management; • Political leadership: Prime Minister leading the

National Council for Road Safety (NCRS);• Key ministry is the MIA• Civil society represented and playing active role.

National Road Safety Strategy 2011-2020

The need for reform• Deeply politicized police • Obsolete legislation• Duplication of functions

within the MIA• Negative public

confidence in policing• Insufficient police presence and impact• High road casualties

National patrol inspectorate created• Specialized subdivision under the

General Police Inspectorate to maintain public order and road safety.

• Activity coordinated by three regional centers: North, Central and South;

• Allows centralized management of all patrol crews, an improved control system and quicker response times.

Police morale: new uniformsNew police uniforms approved April 2013

TrainingCurrently training conducted only by the Police Academy ‘Stefan cel Mare’

•Police officers and 30 NCOs trained •The real need is for around 500 NCOs •CONCERN: The academy provides only theoretical training

For continuous professional development, in future it is necessary to create a police training center equipped to modern standards.

equipmentNew vehicles and enforcement technologies

• Intensive patrolling in parks and entertainment areas

• Police reaction time cut from 45 to 15 min • Human factor in documenting traffic offences

excluded (new video monitoring system, video cameras, etc.)

• Reduced opportunities for bribery.

Results:

Video monitoring system350 VIDEO CAMERAS, 43 RADARS, INSTALLED IN 41 CROSSROADS IN CHISINAU

AIMS:• To reduce crashes, educate drivers• For identification of offenders • To increase security and ensure public

order

Concerns:•Some resistance from public•‘Speed Awareness’ courses to be trialed

Video monitoring system: Average speed measurement:

Mobile documentation in vehicle: Expanding system on national highways:

Corruption prevention strategies• Promoting an ethical police culture and morale• Good quality training• Improving recruitment procedures• Improving individual accountability• Reducing opportunities for corruption and bribery• Strengthening management and supervision – particularly in high risk

areas• Monitoring and proactive investigation• Improving the security of information• Independent oversight of policing.

Should apply to all personnel, including at the highest levels

Combatting corruption2014 Anti-Corruption Year

•1520 – Anticorruption hotline number•Portable video cameras – Equipping police with cameras to register their actions•Police ethics policy •Public warnings – “If you try to bribe a state representative you are risking 6 years in jail.”

Positive policing: Awareness & preventionInformation and verification campaigns:

•"Child safety seats" (January 2014)•"The traffic light" (March 2014)•"The warning light" (March 2014),•“Railway crossings” (April 2014)•"The motorcyclist" (April 2014)•"Hit" (June 2014),•“Cut speeds" (June-July 2014)•“Dangerous Transport" (June 2014)•“Safety on buses" (March, June, Aug, Sept)•29 other campaigns….

Use of social media and advertising

Special tickets eliminated

Drink drive enforcement‘White Nights’ –

• Road Police cordon off towns or city areas for random breath-testing

• Initially found around 12% of drivers drunk

• Since implementation, reduced to 3%

More women recruited

More female police officers has meant:

• Greater acceptance by drivers of road enforcement

• An increase in fines collected• Less aggression and fewer complaints

against the police

Younger police force recruitedAGE DISTRIBUTION OF EMPLOYEES GENERAL POLICE INSPECTORATE 2014

INCREASING LEVELS OF CONFIDENCE IN THE POLICE

Results: public confidence

”Good policing, on the way to being distinguished policing, happens not because of the techniques, tools, or structures of a police department.

But because of the values held by the men and women who do the work”

ROAD CRASHES 2009-2014

Results: reduced road casualties

2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 20140

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

3000

3500

4000

27292921 2825 2712 2603 2564

476 452 433 441 295 304

3288

37353543 3510

3221 3080

Accidents Deaths Injured

”The primary mission of Government is to protect the public. Traffic crashes are preventable incidents that can be systematically

addressed”

RESULTS:

Police enforcement – “White Nights” special operations in full progress

Successful advocacy led to strict law and penalties

Since November 2016 :

New amendments regarding

-Increase of the conventional unit (from 20 up to 50) for fines.

-Decrease of blood alcohol concentration threshold (0.5 g/l in blood and 0.3 mg/l in breath).

-Re-limits the minimum degree of alcohol concentration in the blood: from 0.3 g/l to 0.5 g/l and the alcohol concentration in the breath 0.15 mg/l - 0.3 mg/l.

 

how moldova compares

Number of road deaths per

capita

• Moldova has better results than most neighbour states

• Progress must continue in order to get closer to the EU average

• During 2014 there were 2,564 traffic accidents (-1.6%), resulting in 304 deaths and 3,080 injuries (-4.3%)

• Most crashes were the fault of drivers - 2,209 or 86.2% of all collisions recorded

• Further institutional capacity building• Creation of modern training centers• Continuous training for all staff• More modern equipment• New projects developed and implemented• More cooperation partnerships developed • Improving services for society• Further decreasing response time• More effective communication both internal

and external• Strengthening and promoting transparency• Increasing police presence throughout the

country

Future tasks: