The Police of Armenia, the Rescue Service and the Migration and Citizenship Service will be merged into one structure – the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
During the Cabinet meeting Acting Minister of Justice Grigor Minasyan said that the new ministry will enable to ensure both parliamentary and civilian control towards the Police.
“The ministry’s functions will focus on five main areas – maintenance of public order, prevention and discovery of crimes, disaster risk management, migration and citizenship, and management of state reserves and humanitarian issues”, the Minasyan said. The Prime Minister will appoint the heads of the services.
“Several functions currently done by the Police which are public services in their nature will come under the jurisdiction of the Ministry”, he stated.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan stated that the adoption of the draft does not mean optimization, although it is also within the problems.
“The most prospective meaning of this change is to have a new standard Police and a new standard Rescue Service. We must also have new standards of the Police, the Rescue Service, over which works have already been done”, the PM said. Pashinyan added that according to these amendments, the Police Chief will be the Deputy Minister of Interior, as well as a member of the Security Council.
He informed that the Police forces will turn into a Police Guard which will have broader functions.
“As a result we will have a new police and a new rescue service. And one of the deputy ministers must hold the position of the Head of the Rescue Service”, the PM said.
