Police to be regionalized in Moldova, emergency response time to be shortened by at least 15 minutes

The police will be reorganized into three regional and two territorial divisions, in order to provide quality public services and reduce administrative expenses. The parliament today approved a draft law to this effect in the first reading, with the votes by 53 lawmakers.

Thus, the document proposes the establishment of three regional police divisions – North, Center and South. At the same time, the territorial police divisions will continue to operate in the municipality of Chisinau and Autonomous Territorial Unit (UTA) of Gagauzia.

As a result of the changes proposed, the office positions will be reduced by about y 8 per cent. At the same time, representatives of the Interior Ministry have assured that no employee would be dismissed. Police officers will be assigned to subdivisions where there is a lack of human resources.

At the parliament meeting, Secretary General of the Interior Ministry Vladislav Cojuhari said that the changes would allow more prompt intervention by police officers in emergency situations. Thus, the goal is to reduce the police response time by at least 15 minutes. This will be possible by implementing the principle of the nearest patrol, even if the incident occurs in another sector or district.

The project also provides for a clear delimitation of the sphere of competence of the Police and the General Inspectorate of Carabineers (IGC). Thus, at the request of the IGC, the Police will be able to carry out actions to ensure and restore public order and security. Thus, police officers will be responsible for maintaining public order and security, while the carabineers will ensure and restore public order and security.

The parliament is to consider the draft in the second reading.