By April 1, the head of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs, Rashid Nurgaliev, must present a police reform project to Dmitry Medvedev. The reform itself should be completed by the end of the year. However, few people in Russia believe in the possibility of redecorating the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Many are calling for a complete “reset” of this institution. This is exactly what was done in Georgia. Special correspondent of Kommersant Publishing House Olga Allenova found out how and why Georgians managed to do something that Russian citizens can only dream of.

Tbilisi, city center. Not a single patrol car, but everyone tries to drive according to the rules. On Rustaveli Avenue, no one runs across the street, as was the case before—people cross the road at pedestrian crossings. For four days in the city, I did not see a single patrol police officer stopping someone’s car. I didn't see a single accident. I didn't hear a single police siren.

But I saw on TV the story of another bribe-taker, who was shown throughout Georgia. Employees of the General Inspectorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia caught a precinct inspector red-handed after receiving a bribe of 150 lari (about $90). For this money, the district police officer had to accompany the cargo of timber. The bribe was offered to the inspector under the guise of businessmen by employees of the General Inspectorate. For this crime, according to Georgian law, he faces up to nine years in prison.

In recent years, I have heard a lot about the “Georgian miracle”, which is called the Georgian reforms and, in particular, the reform of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. My friends told me how good it became to live without traffic police, to receive certificates and passports in a short time, not to give bribes and to know that no one will ask you for this bribe. The trust rating of the Georgian police is now about 80%. In the ranking of corruption-free countries by Transparency International from 2004 to 2009, Georgia rose from 124th place to 66th.

The success of reforming the Ministry of Internal Affairs cannot be denied even by Georgian oppositionists who believe that Mikheil Saakashvili is leading the country to dictatorship. “The reform of the Georgian police has become the hallmark of the country,” admits the well-known oppositionist, head of the “2020” fund Erosi Kitsmarishvili. “In Georgia, they stopped taking bribes on the roads and in ministries, they stopped kidnapping people and taking them to the mountains, the procedures for obtaining certificates have been simplified. Yes, it is beautiful and impressive, and it immediately catches the eye. But there are many disadvantages that are invisible to visitors. Today, the Ministry of Internal Affairs controls all spheres of the life of the state. Today, this structure has closed, opaque funds, replenished at the expense of arrested officials. And to obtain reports on the expenditure of these. money is impossible. And the main thing that many citizens are dissatisfied with is the disproportionate costs for the police and other spheres of society. Today a policeman receives many times more than a teacher or a doctor, simply because the police are Saakashvili’s favorite brainchild.”

I became convinced that the police are truly the favorite brainchild of the President of Georgia when I got to the police service center in the city of Rustavi, a 15-minute drive from Tbilisi.

"We're trying to make people feel comfortable."

The huge service center, or literally translated, service agency, is amazing. This structure, subordinate to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, has a lot of functions. “By connecting different services in one place, we have ensured that people waste much less time on bureaucratic procedures,” agency director Georgiy Vakhtadze tells me.

Registration of a car and issuance of a regular license plate and registration certificate take one and a half to two hours and cost 56 lari ($34). For 80 lari, agency employees will arrange everything themselves. Everything that could previously be bought through pull can now be bought from the state. For example, a cool number: you enter into the machine a configuration of letters and numbers that appeals to you - and it immediately gives you the cost of the number (from $150 to $700). The most expensive are personalized plates, their price is approximately $6 thousand.

In the next room they take the driving test. Symbols appear on the monitor in front of me, indicating Georgian, English, Ossetian, Abkhazian, Russian, Turkish, Armenian and Azerbaijani languages - the exam can be taken in any of them.

After the construction of new police station buildings, residents were able to observe the work of the police both from the outside and from the inside (pictured)
Photo: Olga Allenova, Kommersant

In the next block, they check whether you have passed the theory, and if you have passed, you are sent to a special site where they take the driving test. On a large platform, simulating a city with its ups, downs, parking lots and intersections, there are five new Skoda Fabia cars - exams are taken only on them. You can take the driving test five times; if you fail the fifth, you will have to take the theory test again. Driving theory and practice exams and obtaining a driver's license cost $30. All my friends in Tbilisi say that it is now impossible to buy rights in Georgia.

I go to the terminal for customs clearance of cars. In a half-closed glass booth, a customs officer enters the technical characteristics of the car, and the computer immediately calculates the price. A woman standing in front of the booth receives a piece of paper that says that customs clearance of her 1998 car with a 1.8 liter engine costs 1,215 lari (about $730). Then the car is checked for theft (the Georgian Ministry of Internal Affairs has a common database with Interpol) and after paying at the local bank branch (1215 lari for customs clearance plus 56 lari for registration of the car), the client receives a license plate number. The whole procedure takes about two hours.

In a separate sector you can obtain a certificate of no criminal record or a permit to carry a weapon. In Georgia, by law, these certificates are provided free of charge within five working days (in Moscow - about a month). If you want to speed up the procedure, you need to go to a bank branch: for 20 GEL the certificate will be issued in two days, for 80 GEL - within an hour.

Such reforms affected not only the Ministry of Internal Affairs. For example, you can get an identity card (free) or a foreign passport (30 GEL) from the Civil Registry Agency under the Ministry of Justice of Georgia within ten working days. You can speed up the procedure to one day by paying 100 GEL (for an international passport) or 40 GEL (for an identity card) to a bank branch.

“The Ministry of Internal Affairs is, by and large, a service agency,” says Irma Dzvelaya, an employee of the legal department of the service center. “We are trying to make people feel comfortable.”

“We don’t shout or swear here”

The police department of the city of Rustavi is not at all similar to the Russian Main Internal Affairs Directorate. Transparent walls, modern blue tables in the common room, at the entrance there is a polite policeman at the reception desk who registers your complaint and refers you to a specialist. On the first floor, in a common block, there are district inspectors and the office, on the second - detectives and the head of the police department, Georgy Chkonia. Chkonia's office is in full view: lowering the blinds is only allowed in the summer heat.

— Isn’t it hard without walls? - I ask the policeman.

- No, it’s even more convenient somehow. From my office I can see everything my employees are doing.

- But everyone sees you too.

- That's the point. You know, this site was built in 2009, and all year long our residents came to this square, sat on the benches and sat and looked at us for days. Now they don’t go there anymore - they realized that there is nothing criminal in the police, since they are transparent.

- But is it all about the glass walls?

- Of course not. Society just has a better attitude towards the police. Everyone can see that there are almost no criminal incidents; most of the incidents are family and domestic quarrels. The police respond to everything in a timely manner. People now don’t hesitate to come with complaints; if a person has a problem, he immediately comes here. How was it before? Cases that were difficult to solve, for example, the theft of a mobile phone, were not initiated at all, simply so that they would not hang on the police. Now the Ministry of Internal Affairs is fighting against the non-registration of citizens' appeals. They conduct raids - for example, some citizen comes to me and complains about his neighbor. If I send him home and don’t register him, it may turn out that he is a General Inspectorate officer in disguise, and a case will be filed against me.

I look through the wall of the office into the room where the detectives work: two investigators patiently explain to an elderly man whose daughter died during childbirth what claims he can make against the doctor in the maternity ward.

“All employees passed tests for psychological stability,” explains Chkonia. “And everyone took special courses.” We don't shout or swear here. Sometimes, however, citizens shout, but less than before.

I go out into the common room and meet the taciturn head of the group of district inspectors, David Sartania. I find out that I had a rare chance to see a policeman who served under Eduard Shevardnadze.

- Do you feel the difference? - I ask.

- Very big. We are now doing business, but before we did nothing, only money.

“I served in the MGB for ten years, and in the police for only two years,” Chkonia supports. “And only now have I become proud of my work.” Because people began to treat us differently. Many young people now want to become police officers. And before they all wanted to be thieves in law.

“A month ago there was an enrollment of 50 people for the course, but about 500 came”

The 80 percent trust rating for the Georgian police began with the police academy in Tbilisi. In 2005, when the reform of the Ministry of Internal Affairs was officially announced, Anna Chikhitashvili, an employee of the American research organization Rand Corporation, working with the Pentagon, became the rector of the police academy. She can't shoot, she's just a good manager. And also an ideological ally of the Georgian authorities.

After the construction of new police station buildings, residents were able to observe the work of the police both from the outside (pictured) and from the inside
Photo: Olga Allenova, Kommersant

“We are building a new country,” says Anna. “What we do is a base.” We are raising people who will protect this new country. When I came here, a big uncle was sitting here in this chair, to whom nephews and friends called, and he arranged them for the academy on call. Now this is impossible. We have no corruption. Therefore, only trained people join the police.

A special course at the police academy is a prerequisite for employment in the police. To become a detective or criminologist, you need to enter the academy with a higher legal education. A university diploma is not required to serve in the patrol police. Candidates are selected based on test results. After selection, they undergo a three-month training course. Then the exam and service on patrol.

“At the same time, training is not limited to three months, this process is continuous,” says Anna. “We constantly conduct retraining courses.” It is impossible for someone to be promoted to the Ministry of Internal Affairs before he takes such a course with us.

We pass by a virtual shooting range where classes are taking place: cadets in different situations must decide where they can use weapons and where they can’t. On the site in front of the educational building, another group with instructors is practicing detaining a car with an offender at the wheel. Another one, across the road, is the arrest of an armed criminal.

“Now service in the police is very popular,” says local psychologist Teona, who is observing the reaction of the cadets. “A month ago, the patrol police course had an enrollment of 50 people, and about 500 applicants came. Service in the Ministry of Internal Affairs is especially popular among women: today only in In the patrol police, 15% of employees are already women.

"Today there is a struggle between generations"

In fact, the reform of the Ministry of Internal Affairs began in the summer of 2004, when within a week the traffic police were disbanded, all employees (14 thousand people) were fired, and new people were recruited into the established patrol service. Employee salaries were increased. Today they are 15-20 times higher than in 2003. The patrol police now have two functions - monitoring traffic and fighting violators. Having received a call to the remote control, the patrol leaves for the place. If it is a fight, patrol officers detain the participants; if it is a murder, they call the criminal police and wait for her; if it is an explosive device, special forces are called.

There are usually two police officers on patrol, but they are constantly changing, so there are no established pairs. If one policeman breaks the law, then the second is obliged to report it to the top. If he doesn’t report, it may turn out that his partner’s violation of the law was just a staging by the general inspectorate. The constant threat of hidden inspection has a better effect on police officers than bonuses and promotions. Nobody wants to become an anti-hero in a TV commercial and go to jail.

To the Russian eye, the service center in Rustavi will resemble a hypermarket more than a police station
Photo: Olga Allenova, Kommersant

No less significant than the PPS reform were the changes in the lives of ordinary citizens. Now in all major cities of Georgia there are external surveillance cameras on the roads, but the patrol does not fine drivers for violations, but only stops them and issues a ticket. If the patrol is not nearby, a receipt for the fine is sent to the driver’s home. If the driver is unhappy, he can go to the police website and find a video of his offense there. If he does not pay the fine within a month, the amount of the fine is doubled.

The prices for violations are as follows: speeding - 20 lari ($12), illegal parking - 10 lari, drunk driving - 100 lari if detained for the first time, and 500 lari - if the second time, but if the driver is caught drinking for the third time, he They are deprived of their rights and may even be imprisoned.

It was the traffic police reform that turned out to be key for Georgia. She helped change public opinion, which is now generally on the side of the police. Simultaneously with this reform, structural changes took place: the Ministry of State Security, the Border Service and the Ministry of Emergency Situations were merged into the Ministry of Internal Affairs. This factor is not very popular with the opposition, which calls the Ministry of Internal Affairs a monster that controls all spheres of life, but the authorities believe that such centralization is very convenient.

But the opposition liked it when the pre-trial detention cells left the supervision of police departments and came under the jurisdiction of the department for monitoring the observance of human rights (a department within the Ministry of Internal Affairs), and the adopted amendments to the law gave the Ombudsman of Georgia and human rights activists the right to visit the detention center at any time and colonies. Another important amendment to the law was the rule according to which testimony given in court has priority and crosses out all testimony given during the preliminary investigation. This norm makes the use of torture meaningless.

Until 2009, there were dismissals and recertification of criminal police units. Today the main contingent of the Ministry of Internal Affairs is 26 thousand people. This is not counting the state border protection department of 4 thousand people and the private security police of 13 thousand people, which are usually hired by businessmen, as well as foreign diplomatic missions. The minimum salary for a district inspector is 650 lari ($390), for a teaching staff employee (trainee) - 800 lari ($480). The salary of department heads and detectives is 1,200 lari ($720). Plus health insurance and sometimes bonuses.

This is not a lot of money even for Georgia. But sociologists believe that they do not join the police for the sake of a salary - this is a good start for a career.

“People up to 35 years old join the patrol police,” confirms this version, the head of the information and analytical department of the Georgian Ministry of Internal Affairs, Shota Utiashvili. “Many leave after a couple of years, for them it’s just a launching pad.” Some go to study to become a lawyer in order to continue serving in the police at a different level, others simply go into business. It is important that they go into life changed.

— What is your salary?

— In 2004, my salary was only 100 lari, and now it is 2300 lari. But the police stopped taking bribes not because their salaries were increased—a patrolman’s salary is not that big—but because the bosses stopped demanding bribes from their subordinates. If previously an ordinary traffic cop had to give his boss about 400 lari a month, of course, he was forced to earn this money through bribes.

When I enter the foyer of the central building of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, a group of schoolchildren in white shirts is going on a tour of the department. PR is also part of the work of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. “The most difficult thing was to change the attitude of people who believe that bribes and thieves in law are good,” says Tornike Turmanidze, a representative of the First Analytical Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. “And we succeeded.”

The main field of struggle against the Soviet mentality was television. During prime time, TV channels show a professionally shot commercial for the Georgian Ministry of Internal Affairs, which has already shaped the fashion for serving in the police. And every time the police detain a thief in law or a corrupt official, it is shown on all the television news. “This exposing campaign of the Ministry of Internal Affairs began back in 2005, when video footage and audio recordings began to appear on television, recording the moment an official received a bribe,” says Iya Barateli, editor-in-chief of the Region-TV channel. “People were sent to prison for a bribe. with confiscation of property."

The measures were tough. Society began to resist the total wiretapping announced by the opposition. It is not without reason that human rights activists began to say that provocation against citizens and police officers in the form of an offer of a bribe by disguised employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs is not a legal method. However, the Ministry of Internal Affairs responds to this with the phrase of Minister Vano Merabishvili: “The law was written for the people, and it needs to be changed for the people.”

“These measures justified themselves completely,” Tornik Tourmanidze considers. “At some point, people realized that the untouchables did not exist.” Directors of the departments, deputy minister, police detained and accompanied this with evidence of their guilt. The honest police were believed.

- But what about the approval of the opposition about certain closed funds? That the whole business in Georgia is under police control?

- You can say anything, but where is the evidence? Just today there is a struggle of generations. The older generation is displeased with new rules. It was easier for him to live on concepts. And only fear of the law restrains him. And we want a new generation to grow up, which will replace the old. Then our reforms will be irreversible.

Lateness and punishment

Maria Mazalova, correspondent

On that day, when everyone was discussing the human shield organized by traffic cops on the Moscow Ring Road, I was terribly late for Kommersant. I caught a private owner with a broken side. I honestly listened to the song about a mother and a recidivist son three times, and on the fourth I asked to make it quieter. This made the driver think that I wanted to talk:

— You probably get a lot, since you take a taxi. And I work in the traffic police, I earn 23 thousand. My whole family works in the police.

He began to list all his relatives, the abbreviations in which they serve, positions, titles and length of service. I was thinking about something of my own. I’ve encountered the “talkative taxi driver” type before, and I knew that I didn’t have to answer. But after saying “ten thousand bucks, by the way,” he paused for a long time.

“Yes, ten thousand,” he repeated, making sure that I was listening to him. “And not somehow through connections, but honestly settled down.” Without dad, I paid for it myself.

I couldn’t guess right away why I would give so much money to get a low-paying job.

Seeing that he had an effect, he explained:

- Well, look: in a year this money is repaid with one salary. But I still fine. There are about fifty people per day. Well, not all of them, of course. If, let’s say, a person is right, it starts: yes, my dad, you know who? - then of course. Well, if it’s polite, then I can let you go without a fine, even if I violated it.

- What if I didn’t violate it?

- Well, what do you mean “did not violate”?

- So you mean that you take bribes?

- Well, what does “bribe” mean?

- Do your parents take it too?

- No, dad earns 45 thousand, that’s enough for him.

- Doesn’t he condemn you?

“When he was young, he took it too, you know?” Therefore, he treats with understanding. And if I earned at least 35, I wouldn’t take it either, you know? Do you think this is nice for me, or what? This whole state is rotten...

- So why do you work in the police then?

- Well... I like to punish people...

I asked to make the song, which was played probably the tenth time, louder.

Bureau of Police Services