20 June, Minsk /Vasily Malashenkov - BELTA/. The Ministry of Internal Affairs plans to make public opinion one of the main official criteria for evaluating the work of district police officers. This was announced to journalists today by the Head of the Prevention Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Belarus, Roman Melnik, as reported by a BELTA correspondent. Roman Melnik explained that a new instruction on the work of district police inspectors is currently being developed by the police department. It is planned that this document will be adopted in November 2011. At the same time, the Ministry of Internal Affairs invites all interested citizens to submit proposals, which will be duly considered. The instruction will specify the duties of the district police officer, including new provisions on the prevention of domestic violence. It will also eliminate the duplication of certain aspects already present in the Law "On the Internal Affairs Bodies of the Republic of Belarus". As noted by the representative of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the average length of service as a district police inspector is currently 5 years, however, it cannot be said that the staff shortage among district police officers is significant – it is only 7.5%. At the same time, the Ministry of Internal Affairs plans to fill some vacancies by August this year by recruiting graduates of police educational institutions. Roman Melnik added that the average age of a district police officer is currently around 30 years, and 17% are first-year officers. Furthermore, 60% of district police officers have higher or secondary vocational legal education. Slightly over 30% of inspectors live within the territory of their districts. According to the norms, in rural areas, one district police officer may be responsible for about 270 people, while in cities, this figure can reach up to 3.5 thousand due to higher population density. "The work of a district police officer is painstaking daily labour, which, unfortunately, is not always visible," noted Roman Melnik, emphasizing that the service of district police officers is more closely involved with the public than others. This is precisely why the position of a district police officer is often a kind of school, after which an officer can become an investigator, an operative, and so on. In recent years, the Ministry of Internal Affairs has taken a number of steps to increase the prestige of the district police officer service. Almost all workplaces have been equipped with computer technology.-0-

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