The results of an analytical study “The body’s of the National Police of Ukraine activity in the sphere of combating illegal circulation of firearms: the main problems and ways to solve them” were presented to the participants of a round table held at the Donetsk State University of Internal Affairs.
Its purpose is to identify problematic issues that arise in the activities of the National Police of Ukraine to combat illegal circulation of firearms, and to prepare proposals for improving their activities in the specified area.
The analytical research was carried out by the University scientists together with the NGO “Center for Security Studies “CENSS”, the Swiss Foundation of the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, which operates through the Small Arms Survey with the financial support of the German government, within the framework of the project “Supporting Ukraine in Countering the Risk of Small Arms and Light Weapons Proliferation as a Result of Russia’s Aggressive War. It is intended for the prevention and reduction of security threats to the population that may arise due to the illegal circulation of weapons.
The event was opened by the DonSUIA rector, doctor of Law, professor, Honored Lawyer of Ukraine, police colonel Serhii Vitvitskyi: “The military aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine caused an increase of firearms and ammunition among civil population. This significantly increases the risks of committing illegal acts related to illegal handling of weapons. Under such circumstances, one of the urgent tasks of the state is to ensure effective countermeasures against illegal circulation of firearms. The National Police of Ukraine plays a key role among different state bodies involved in solving this task. They are the ones who are authorized to carry out preventive and prophylactic activities, to directly take measures of detecting and terminating offenses in the field of arms trafficking”.
Those present were greeted by head of the Management Board of the Center for Security Studies “CENSS”, candidate of legal sciences, Vadym Chernysh. He emphasized the topicality of conducting scientific research devoted to the problems of law enforcement body’s activities in the field of countering illegal circulation of firearms and ammunition.
Executive director of the Center for Security Studies “CENSS” Viktoriia Voronina presented the activities of the project “Supporting Ukraine in countering the risks of proliferation of small arms and light weapons as a result of Russia’s aggressive war.” She noted that the initiative is aimed at the relevant Ukrainian and international politicians, practitioners and the public benefitting from timely, appropriate and high-quality research on countering the proliferation of illegal small arms and light weapons.
The event was attended by representatives of: the Main Investigative Department; the Criminal Investigation Department; the Department of Preventive Activities of the National Police of Ukraine; the Main Office of the National Police in the Vinnytsia, Dnipropetrovsk, Zhytomyr, Zakarpattia, Zaporizhzhia, Kyiv, Kirovohrad, Mykolaiv, Poltava, Rivne, Kharkiv, Kherson, Khmelnytskyi regions, the Crimea Autonomous Republic and the cities of Sevastopol and Kyiv.
The results of the conducted analytical study, in which 16,216 staffers of the National Police of Ukraine participated, were presented by head of the department of administrative and legal disciplines of the faculty of training specialists for preventive activity units of the DonSUIA, candidate of legal sciences, professor lieutenant colonel of police Olha Merdova.
The scientific researches and proposals advanced by the round table participants during their discussion will become the basis of a new vector for effective activity of the units of the National Police of Ukraine in the field of countering illegal circulation of firearms and ammunition.
