Kyiv traffic police liquidated as part of reforms

The State Traffic Inspection in Kyiv will be liquidated by the end of the week, announced on July 6 Eka Zguladze, the first deputy minister of the Interior Ministry, as reported by the Interfax-Ukraine news agency. It will be replaced by the police patrol that was launched on July 4.  Zguladze’s announcement came as a surprise to Kyiv’s traffic police, as reported by thevesti-ukr.comnews site on July 7.  The traffic police’s workload is currently being handled by 200 police patrols, said their chief, Oleksandr Fatsevych. “There’s not a single traffic officer left,” he said, as reported by vesti-ukr.com. “The police will handle the work to the fullest extent.”

Some of the Kyiv traffic officers will be transferred to the police patrol, while others will be dismissed, said an Interior Ministry spokesman. The same day, Interior Ministry Arsen Avakov announced he liquidated the entire traffic police of the Donetsk region under Ukrainian government control. Last week, he decided to liquidate the traffic police of the Mykolayiv region, citing corruption.

Zenon Zawada: The government has launched its first large-scale reform program that will have a tangible effect on Ukraine’s citizens. The traffic police has been a notorious source of bribe-taking. Its liquidation is a positive step for earning the public’s trust and support it has good timing, just a few months ahead of the October local elections. It also reflects positively on the government’s decision to hire foreigners, particularly the Georgian reformers that include Zguladze and Mikheil Saaskashvili, the Odesa regional administration chair.