COMMUNITY POLICE OFFICER AS AN OBJECT OF DOMESTIC AND FOREIGN ADMINISTRATIVE AND LEGAL RESEARCH

Abstract

. Purpose . The purpose of the article is to study the objective, tasks and specificities of implementing the project “Community Police Officer”, as well as to reveal the organisational legal support for the activities of the community police officer. Methodology . The article comprehensively analyses the project “Community Police Officer”. The concept of a community police officer is defined, as well as the prerequisites to the initiation of a community police officer are revealed. For example, the main prerequisites for the institution of a community police officer in Ukraine were: the growth of socially dangerous and socially harmful behaviour in society and, as a result, the growth of criminal and administrative offences, the existence of an appropriate legislative basis, adequate logistical and financial resources, raising public awareness of the importance and value of local self-government, as well as the factor of law and order in civil society. The main legal regulations governing the activities of the Community Police Officer are analysed. It is studied that, as a member of the Council of Europe, our State is bound to comply with international human rights standards under universally recognised international legal guarantees established in relevant international law, and to create internal guarantees for their implementation. It is revealed that the specificity of the project “Community Police Officer” is the emphasis on the introduction of a qualitatively new and meaningful format of police work, in which the needs of the community and the local population should be prioritised. The task of the national project “Community Police Officer” is to make a law enforcement officer functionally and procedurally independent. He or she shall be the first to whom people facing wrongdoing will come, and the first to prevent criminal actions in an accountable territory. Results . The success of democratic reforms in Ukraine cannot be achieved without proper legal regulatory framework and the practical functioning of law enforcement bodies, one of the most important tools to make a real and effective impact on the level of offences and the maintenance of public order in our country. Decisive actions to combat crime will not dramatically improve the situation unless the efforts of law enforcement bodies, in particular the police, are widely supported by the population. Therefore, the focus should be on the activities of district police officers as direct representatives of the police in the service, close partnership with the public on the basis of the principles of trust. The level of trust of an ordinary citizen of Ukraine in the activities of a district police officer is a basic and determining criterion for the work of the entire National Police. The reform of the Ministry of Internal Affairs bodies in general and the service of district police officers in particular was intended, on the one hand, to address issues of adaptation to the new conditions of their organisational structures and, on the other hand, to consolidate appropriate reforms, new tasks and functions of legislation in force. One of the trends of the reform is the launch of a pilot project “Community Police Officer”, aimed at uniting law enforcement officers and residents of an amalgamated territorial community. According to law enforcement officials, this should improve the quality of communication and police services. The new legal framework for community police officers should significantly improve the enforcement of law and order in the newly established (as a result of the reform of decentralisation) amalgamated territorial communities, which determines the relevance and choice of the topic of this study. Conclusions . Therefore, the main objective of the project “Community Police Officer” is to ensure close cooperation between the police and the local community, to focus on the activities of the police, especially on the needs of the society. The task of this project is to make a law enforcement officer functionally and procedurally independent. He or she shall be the first to whom people facing wrongdoing will come, and the first to prevent criminal actions in an accountable territory.