Author

Gorbunov V.Yu.

Title of article

Defects in the mechanism of implementing police powers by citizens in the field of maintaining public order and ensuring public safety

Section

Improving law enforcement practice

Issue, year

4 (34) 2015

Abstract

The legal norms establishing the rights and duties of the RF citizens and regulating their participation in public order protection and ensuring public safety are analyzed. The analogy with police powers is drawn. It’s stated that the citizens participating in the implementation of law enforcement functions, operate within the framework of administrative and legal forms, and do not generally use the universal methods typical for the administrative activities of the police. Citizens also equally interact with the police in ensuring public safety. It’s proposed to consider the possibility of transferring some public authorities of law enforcement agencies (police) to citizens participating in public order maintenance, because effective protective activity is impossible without it. The various arguments for this are given. The lack of special knowledge and impossibility to participate in activities obviously posing a threat to life and health give reason to prohibit the use of physical force to prevent offenses by police community support officers and freelance police officers. On the other hand, such prohibition makes no sense to grant them the right to demand from citizens and officials to stop unlawful acts, since this requirement relates to measures of administrative suppression of a general nature and in case of failure to execute legal requirements it entails application of measures of a special nature (including physical force). For this reason, realization of the right of police community support officers and freelance police officers to take measures to protect the crime scene and ensure the preservation of physical evidence seems pretty difficult.

Keywords

police powers; participation of citizens in maintaining public order and ensuring public safety; police community support officers; freelance police officers; administrative and legal forms and methods of police work; use of physical force.

References

1. Avdeyko A. Uchastie grazhdan v okhrane obshchestvennogo poryadka: istoricheskie predposylki i osnovnye polozheniya novogo federal’nogo zakona [The participation of citizens in the protection of public order: the historical background and the basic provisions of the new federal law]. Professional – Professional, 2014, no. 5, pp. 5-8.

2. Zaytsev I.A., Rep’ev A.G. O nekotorykh problemakh sovershenstvovaniya zakonodatel’stva v sfere uchastiya grazhdan v okhrane obshchestvennogo poryadka [On some issues of improving legislation in the sphere of citizens’ participation in the protection of public order]. Administrativnoe pravo i protsess – Administrative Law and Procedure, 2015, no. 3, pp. 42-45.

3. Lupov D.V. Sovershenstvovanie pravovogo obespecheniуa deуatel’nosti grazhdan po ohrane obshhestvennogo porуadka [Improving the legal support of citizens for the protection of public order]. Rossiуskiу sledovatel’ – Russian investigator, 2014, no. 21, pp. 47-49.

4. Administrativnaya deyatel’nost’ politsii [Administrative activities of the police]. Moscow, 2014. 680 p.

5. Kuyanov A.V., Yuritsin A.E. Organizatsionno-pravovye i takticheskie osnovy deyatel’nosti politsii po okhrane obshchestvennogo poryadka i obshchestvennoy bezopasnosti v Rossiyskoy Federatsii [Organizational-legal and tactical bases of the police to maintain public order and public safety in the Russian Federation]. Altayskiy yuridicheskiy vestnik – Altai Law herald, 2015, no. 1 (9), pp. 63-67.

6. Timko S.A., Timko V.P. Obshchestvennoe mnenie o deyatel’nosti OVD (regional’nyy aspekt) [Public opinion on the activities of the internal affairs bodies (regional aspect)]. Psikhopedagogika v pravookhranitel’nykh organakh – Psychological pedagogy in law enforcement, 2014, no. 4 (59), pp. 11-15.

7. Avrutin Yu.E. [i dr.]. Kommentariy k Federal’nomu zakonu “O politsii” (postateynyy) [Commentary to the Federal Law “On Police” (itemized)]. Moscow, 2012. 552 p.