New Volgograd Police Chief's Five Striking Quotes
Pavel Gishchenko has been in his new post for only a couple of weeks
The new head of the Russian Interior Ministry«s Main Directorate for the Volgograd Region is a native of the region with extensive service in law enforcement — Pavel Gishchenko. For three years he headed the Interior Ministry in the Donetsk People»s Republic, and after the scandalous departure of the Volgograd chief he was transferred here. He began his work with his first meeting with journalists, where he agreed to answer any questions, even uncomfortable ones. We collected five of his striking quotes from today«s press conference.
On the reprimand system in the police
«Of course, the easiest thing is to issue a reprimand to an officer. But who was commanding that officer? Who hired him? How was he brought up? And what is a reprimand? It means losing bonuses, delays and deprivation of rank, growing tension within the team. It is abnormal when an officer serves 10 years, then commits a minor infraction — being late for work, an error in a document — and we deprive him of the chance to receive the rank of major, lieutenant colonel or captain.»
On the prioritization of calls
«Any report that comes into the duty unit is, of course, a tragedy. If someone in the Dzerzhinsky district is drinking on a bench next to children — that is also a tragedy. But the duty officer in the police is like a doctor. He looks at the reports: one is rape, the second is shooting, the third, God forbid, a strike, and measures must be taken to save people. Like a doctor, he first performs complex operations, then takes on fractures, and only then gets to small wounds.»
On detentions of extremists
«When I read the so-called liberals who speak negatively about the special military operation, I, as a person who spent a long time there (near the line of contact — Editor»s note), am extremely indignant.
What we are fighting for today is not just words. We really are fighting for traditional values. What is wrong with our Orthodox religion believing that [a family] should have one father and one mother and that they should be of different sexes? What is wrong with [the commandments] «thou shalt not kill» and «thou shalt not steal»? Nothing.
And when you see with your own eyes how neo-Nazis burn churches, our shrines, and then someone speaks [with the opinion] that «there is nothing terrible about this» — I am bewildered by such people. They, it seems to me, do [things] far more terrible for our state, for [its] destabilization, than even that young guy who plays his guitar loudly under people«s windows and keeps them from sleeping.»
On attacks on Wildberries warehouses and «rocking» the situation
«From the point of view of the electoral period, [now] there really is tension, we are recording it. The West, which has set as its goal the destruction of the Russian state at any cost, will make every effort to destabilize society.
The proof of this is the attacks on Wildberries, the attacks on our refineries — all of this is to undermine our electorate. For five years all of Europe cannot achieve its goals. We have held firm, we are moving forward. And as always, if it doesn«t work [to destroy us] from outside, they will try to rock us from within.
Returning to the outcry about the detentions of those who gave a wrong assessment of the SMO. What should be done with them? People are dying, people are shedding blood, fighting for our children. And [some] person sits in [comfortable] conditions, drinks coffee on the money of a European state and slings mud at our warriors.«
On the purpose of the police
«Lately I very often use a quote from Dostoevsky: »How does a Russian person differ from a Western one? By a sense of justice.« The military guards our borders, doctors treat us, teachers educate our children. And what does the police do? For me [in my work] the main thing is a thirst for justice. A person comes to you with a problem — we are obliged to register the crime instantly, open a case in the shortest possible time and identify the criminal.
I have been in the post of head of the Main Directorate for 14 days. And every second complaint is about untimely consideration of reports and untimely opening of a case. It is not only about identifying the person who committed the crime. A person needs the ruling to go to an insurance company and receive the necessary payments, and here [with accepting reports] we often get stuck.
Therefore one of the first tasks is openness before the public. No falsification, total registration of all crimes and offenses. If housing and utilities services fight for the quality of water supply, then the police must fight to reduce response times to citizens« reports, since we work for them.»
The most important information from the new police chief«s press conference was collected here. Pavel Gishchenko spoke honestly about the problems of the local Main Directorate, crime in the region and his plans for managing the law enforcement agency.
