You're reading: Zguladze says she is working to transform Ukraine’s militia into modern police force

Eka Zguladze walked into her first briefing and shook everyone's hands – a gesture that would be unthinkable coming from a senior Interior Ministry official in the past. 

Zguladge was recently appointed deputy interior minister, and her job is to reform the post-Soviet repressive militia of Ukraine to make it modern, friendly and service-oriented.

She starts by insisting that the Ukrainian law enforcers should now be called “police”.

“We’re moving in this direction, and it has to be called this way,” Zguladze said during her first briefing in Kyiv on Dec. 25.  

Zguladze, 36, showed up in an elegant black suit a few minutes before her scheduled time and shook hands with all the attendees.

She explained she wouldn’t have accepted her job if she didn’t feel there is political will to change the police. Zguladze also stressed that despite the criticism she’s certain of a positive outcome of the reform.

“I often hear that nothing will happen with police reform,” she said. “But I’m sure – we’ll make it. However, not all at once.”

The reform itself is already underway, Zguladze explained, adding that it would be “a difficult process.”

“We’re not producing cosmetic changes; we need to create a brand new system of law enforcement,” Zguladze says. The reform will start from big cities. Kyiv is the first one on the list.

One of the first things Kyiv will get is a new road patrol service sometime next spring. It is aimed to replace the post-Soviet road inspections, according to Interior Minister Arsen Avakov.

The Interior Ministry will start recruiting people to be new patrol officers for Kyiv on Jan. 20.

“Everyone is free to participate in a competition,” Zguldaze said during the press conference. “There will be different criteria; and one of those is age – preferably starting 18 until 35 years old,” Zguladze says.

She also said that salaries for police officers would be upped. 

Selected candidates will continue their training at schools. Earlier Avakov said the candidates will undergo “three months of rigorous training and studies.” He said the final tests after the training program are expected to select 50 percent of applicants.

“We will have a new police patrol service. With new approaches, rules and new people. And hopefully, with your renewed trust,” the minister posted to his Facebook page on Dec. 24.

Zguladze explained that the training will be challenging, and not all the candidates would graduate schools. “But those who did will be real new police officers,” she said. 

Another thing Zguladze wants to add to police is trust.

“Police need to serve everyone and all. People don’t trust police at all now, and we could not do anything without  it,” Zguladze said. “Renewing image of police is our primary task.”

That’s what she managed to do in Georgia. During her term as a deputy interior minister in 2005-2012, almost 90 percent of national police force was dismissed and new officers hired in a matter of weeks.

There were at least 80 glass-fronted police stations built to demonstrate openness and transparency within the new police.

However, she didn’t like to compare Georgian experience to Ukrainian, explaining that Ukraine has “its own problems.”

She also hopes that more women could become police officers as well.

The weakest issues Ukraine’s Interior Ministry has to deal with is corruption and overlapping functions of various offices, according to Zguladze. She also hopes to bring international donors to Ukraine to help with reform.

“But first of all we need to ensure them that we really want and can change the system,” Zguladze said.

Kyiv Post staff writer Olena Goncharova can be reached at [email protected]