Translated material
“I haven’t encountered this myself yet”
Police officers told the president how much it costs to get a driver's license back
An extended meeting of the board of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs was held in Moscow yesterday, dedicated to the results of work in the past year and plans for the future. By tradition, President Putin also attended this event. He thanked the police for the work done, but demanded to “increase the detection of crimes” and “not to reduce the emerging positive trends in this direction.” The President also outlined the main priorities ahead of the presidential elections. Among these was the fight against terrorism, crimes against the person, and corruption . Vladimir Putin also paid special attention to the situation with road accidents , noting that this is one of the few indicators among other law enforcement statistics that continues to grow steadily. According to the president, it is necessary to “technically modernize” the traffic police departments and figure out why the legal mechanisms in this area are not fully working. Vladimir Putin also told the police about the fee that drivers pay to return their driver’s licenses that were taken away from them.Speaking to employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Vladimir Putin began by expressing gratitude to them for the “objective and effective” work done last year. He noted that thanks to the work of the police, there have been “ noticeable changes in the area of exposing organized criminal communities (OCCs), the detection of economic crimes has increased and, most importantly, the overall protection of our citizens.” In addition, he emphasized that “the number of terrorist attacks is decreasing every year, but nevertheless the threat still remains.” “Therefore, on the eve of the presidential elections, I ask you to concentrate more on identifying and preventing various crimes,” the president said. — I ask you to pay special attention to crimes against individuals that remain unsolved for years. And today there are more than 2 million such crimes. I also ask you to strengthen control over the prevention of homelessness.”
After this, the head of state moved “to the most important issue today—road safety.” “The numbers speak for themselves,” the president said. - If in 2000 165 thousand people died in road accidents, then last year - 234 thousand. We need to fight this, and I am glad that the Ministry of Internal Affairs has been assigned a large and responsible role in this direction. This also applies to increasing fines and installing video cameras on highways.”
The president also focused on the successes of the Federal Migration Service (FMS). “According to tax officials, thanks to the tightening of administrative fines against employers who illegally use the labor of citizens of other countries, about 3.4 billion rubles were returned to the state budget over the past year,” he noted. “But the most important problem that the Ministry of Internal Affairs should pay special attention to is identifying corruption and bringing such cases to court.” At the same time, the head of state emphasized that law enforcement officers themselves must be “protected from any temptation,” but if such are found, they will be judged strictly. “And in general, it should be noted that last year there was finally a positive trend towards reducing the number of crimes, so we need to keep it up and not reduce the emerging positive trends in this direction,” the president finished his speech.
The head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Rashid Nurgaliev, supported the president that “in 2007, there really was a long-awaited decline in crimes.” “And here it is important to emphasize that this is due to a real decline in criminal tension, and not to violations in recording and recording crimes,” the minister emphasized. “Along with prosecutorial control, departmental control has also been strengthened.” Meanwhile, the head of the department agreed with the president that there is still a terrorist threat in the country, noting that its main source is in the North Caucasus region.
As for the “alarming situation on the roads,” the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs admitted that it “still remains tense.” But nevertheless, according to him, the measures taken (tightening traffic rules, installing video cameras on highways) made it possible to reduce the number of accidents with particularly serious consequences, as well as the number of people killed and injured in them. There are also fewer registered road accidents committed by drivers while intoxicated. “At the same time, stabilizing the situation on the roads depends on improving the condition of the road transport infrastructure and capacity, as well as improving the quality of driver training, creating a culture and legal awareness of road users. At the same time, the actions of police officers must be professional, open, fair, accessible to public control and understandable to citizens,” the minister said.
Then the President took the floor again. He noted that “the speech of Rashid Gumarovich Nurgaliev once again emphasizes that we are on the right path, and everything planned must be accomplished.” “Once again I want to return to the topic of emergency situations on the roads,” Mr. Putin said. -- Practice shows that we did the right thing by increasing fines and installing video recording on the highways. If motorists, having received a license “through acquaintance”, but at the same time not having the necessary skills either in theory or in driving, will understand that it is better to follow all the rules than to drive recklessly on the roads. After all, a violation may result in deprivation of rights, which, as people say, now costs a fee.” From the audience they immediately suggested - “from 1.5 or 3 thousand dollars.” “Well, I don’t know for sure,” Mr. Putin replied. “I’ve never encountered this myself.”