On July 7, in the Ministry of Internal Affairs an enlarged board meeting devoted to the end of the activity on fight against crime, public order maintenance and ensuring of public security for the first half of 2017, and the challenges ahead was held.

Opening the meeting, the Minister of Internal Affairs, Colonel-General Ramil Usubov drew attention to development of positive results achieved in the early years on the fight against crime in the republic in the first half of the current year, reliable protection of legal interests, rights and freedoms of citizens, being controlled of criminogenic situation, provision of public order and security at a high level during important international events such as  IV Islamic Solidarity Games and Formula-1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix. The Minister stressed that the services personnel to the Republic of Azerbaijan are highly appreciated again by the President Ilham Aliyev, and that the 55 employees were awarded by state and 4 senior officials were honored with higher special ranks. Ramil Usubov thanked the head of state for his high attention. It was noted that 643 officers and 63 military men who distinguished in the service, were rewarded by the management of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. 

First Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs, Police Lieutenant-General Vilayat Eyvazov gave a broad report and emphasized that during the reporting period 13,182 crimes were registered in all state agencies involved in operational search and investigative activities. V.Eyvazov said that 94.6% of these crimes was illegal actions investigated by the internal affairs and prosecution authorities, 85.6% of these was classified as less serious crimes that do not pose a major public danger.
     

It was noted that, as a result of the strengthening of preventive work, uninterrupted monitoring of criminogenic situation, the positive tendencies in the dynamics of criminality improved over the last 6 months. The number of crimes decreased by 7.1 %, including serious and especially serious crimes 10%, deliberate murder and attempts by 27%, property crimes by 10.3%, thefts from property by 7,3%, fraudulence by 12%, extortion by threats by 13,2%, robbery by 25%, thuggery by 27,6%, and traffic accidents by 6,3%, number of people injured in accidents by 14,2%. 

Compared to 6 months of 2016, disclosure of crimes in the reporting period improved by 1,3% (85,7%) with a professional conduct of investigative actions and operational measures aimed at restoring the violated rights of victims of criminal assaults, including the crime happened under the uncertain condition improved by 4,1%, deliberate murder by 1%, intentional damage to health 8,4%, property crimes 2,7%, including the disclosure of thefts by 4,7%, thuggery 5,4%, robbery by 8%. 288 undiscovered crimes of previous years were filed together with prosecution authorities.

Speaking about the importance of using information technologies in the prevention of illegal actions and the fight against crime, First Deputy Minister emphasized that 867 cases were revealed in hot pursuit, 3156 illegal actions were prevented, 2424 criminal cases were filed as a result of operational responses to information received in "102" Call Center.
177 offenses were uncovered, 8389 traffic accidents and 179 pedestrian accidents were found with the capabilities of "Safe City" service.

It was noted that during the reporting period 608 cameras were installed at further 151 points and the number of relevant technical facilities reached to 11,840 units on 3293 points. At the same time, nearly 100,000 video surveillance cameras installed at private property facilities are successfully used for the prevention and clearance of crimes. Ensuring the criminal responsibilities is also under control, 1607 defendants avoiding the court, the investigation and inquiry bodies, as well as, 346 defendants accused for serious and especially serious crimes were detained.

According to the speaker, during the past six months, with operational-search actions against organized crime 536 people, including 138 criminal groups accused of serious and especially serious crimes were rendered harmless and 70 people who engaged in illegally carrying and selling firearms were arrested. 
At the same time, it was noted that 603,3 kilograms of drugs were withdrawn from the illegal turnover, 34 criminal groups were rendered harmless, 1302 persons were brought to responsibility, more than 95 tonnes of illegally cultivated and wild-growing hemp and hashish were found and destroyed.

It was said that the work done under the relevant legislative acts on the fight against human trafficking and the National Action Plan were consistently continued, as a result of it, in comparison with the first half of 2016, 13 percent more or 105 trafficking crimes were identified, and four criminal groups of 8 persons were rendered harmless, 15 persons were brought to court in the framework of the investigation of criminal cases initiated on these facts, as well as 53 victims of human trafficking were reintegrated into society.

It was noted that the number of criminal cases completed in the reporting period was 6 percent more, the number of cases sent to the courts was 7,4 percent more, and in the number of investigators was 13 percent more, compared to 6 months of the previous year. Compensation for material damage to the state, legal entities and individuals was 73%.

It was emphasized that the positive trends in previous years were generally preserved in the field of traffic safety, including the protection of people's life and health. It was reported that in total, 1,615,372 protocols were drawn up by the internal affairs bodies for various administrative violations. As a result, 1,568,336 people were fined, 1778 persons were arrested by the courts in an administrative order, 28,755 people were warned.

It was also brought to the attention that measures were taken as planned to increase the operational availability and mobilization of Internal Troops, to strengthen the military discipline, to strengthen the logistical support and social protection of the personnel.

It was emphasized that in the field of reception of citizens and consideration of their applications, program tasks and necessary organizational measures put forward by the President of Azerbaijan were implemented in the first half of the current year under the personal supervision of the Minister of Internal Affairs, 1013 citizens, including 187 citizens were received in different cities and regions of the republic, by giving information to the mass media, most of the raised issues were resolved positively. It was also noted that the number of complaints received by the ministry during the reporting period decreased by 9 percent.

Vilayat Eyvazov noted that, in accordance with national action plans and programs on human rights and freedoms and on combating corruption, as well as orders and instructions of the Ministry of Internal Affairs on the relevant areas, systematic activity was carried out on strengthening legality, ensuring the citizen satisfaction and increasing transparency in bodies and units. The hotlines, websites, e-services, facilitating access to information and other innovative initiatives visually confirm the works done.
 
In their speeches, the heads of different structural units of the ministry, city and district police bodies reported on the work done and the forthcoming tasks on eliminating existing shortcomings.

Summing up the meeting, Minister Ramil Usubov said that during the reporting period operational-service activity was generally considered satisfactory, the duties defined by law were fulfilled, employees and military personnel were characterized by high professionalism in the field of crime prevention and public security, as well as, the work on safeguarding internal stability and security in the country was successfully continued to carry out with other law enforcement agencies.

Turning the attention of the board members to the issues and giving the instructions and recommendations, the minister requested that the territorial police authorities should take effective measures to remedy shortcomings in operational and service activities, relevant managerial and administrative units should strengthen the preventive work carried out on the premises and conduct operational search activities and increase the effectiveness of governance on the site and the effectiveness of practical assistance. At the same time, the development of positive results in the fight against crime should be strictly controlled, combating drug trafficking and road traffic control measures should be strengthened, the effectiveness of the preventive work should be further increased, further improvement of the offense on the basis of the inevitability of punishment, professionalism of the staff, citizen satisfaction and other activities should be continued more purposefully.

The Minister of Internal Affairs said that the staff will not be relieved from responsibility after achieving the success during the reporting period and will continue to fulfill the tasks set by President Ilham Aliyev in the field of public order and public safety, as well as relevant commands and instructions on strengthening the rule of law and legality in the country, and improving operational and service activity and, will do their best to protect the legitimate interests of stability, peace, the state, legal and physical persons from illegal activity, and will complete the year of 2017 with high performance.