To officers and veterans of home affairs bodies

 

I sincerely congratulate you on the Day of Home Affairs Officers of Uzbekistan, celebrated on October 25.

 

Over the years of national independence, the home affairs bodies, together with the entire country, have passed a glorious and responsible path.

 

Our people are well aware of the importance of service of these officers to ensure public order, peace and harmony, protection of rights and freedoms of citizens, and value the dedication they show, especially amid the current pandemic.

 

 

In the past four years, extensive and thorough reforms have been carried out in the home affairs system, like in other areas. Much is undertaken to secure the rule of law in society, to transform the bodies of the interior into a truly popular structure serving the interests of the nation.

 

The entire system has been radically improved; 85 percent of the personnel of the command apparatus have been transferred to lower divisions, to places immediately close to settlements.

 

About 200 new departments and divisions of the interior have been established in order for the home affairs bodies to become closer to the people, to ensure the uninterrupted reception of calls and appeals, round the clock, and the timely solution of problems.

 

An important factor in increasing the efficiency of the system was the reorganization of all structural and regional divisions; in particular, services of prevention, criminal investigation, investigation, road patrol and checkpoint patrol, forensic and passport departments, and we released the officers from functions alien to their service.

 

Home affairs bodies and the National Guard have established joint activities to ensure security in the streets and public places.

 

Close attention is paid to social protection of personnel, improvement of service conditions, solution of housing issues. The practical result of this work is that over the past four years, 241 apartment blocks of the system have been built and provided to the families of employees in need of housing and who have excelled in service. Besides, in 2018-2020, on the basis of preferential mortgage lending, officers were allocated 392 apartments in modern multi-storey buildings erected in Tashkent, about two thousand apartments in Karakalpakstan and regions.

 

The home affairs bodies are consistently equipped with innovative digital technologies and information and communication systems. 45 new service facilities were built for personnel and commissioned in 2017-2020 alone.

 

Combating such threats to the life of society as organized crime, terrorism, extremism, corruption, human trafficking and drug trafficking has been intensified. In this case, special attention is paid to the effective use of scientific achievements and advanced technologies.

 

As a result of reforms, bodies of the interior are becoming a truly popular and open, agile and compact structure outfitted with modern technologies and capable of combating crime with dignity. Crucially, the moral qualities of the servicemen and women have been growing, as has their respect among citizens.

 

The most effective method in the fight against crime is known to be preclusion, crime prevention. For this first time in our country, home affairs inspector on prevention has been assigned to each mahalla, and raised in status to the deputy chairperson of the mahalla.

 

We have tasked prevention inspectors with becoming a force always beside local residents and ready to help them in solving their concerns, and not be a supervisor or the one who looks over. In order to ensure the organization of continuous activities and proximity to the population, 6,787 office buildings have been built for them, preferential loans have been allocated for the purchase of 7,388 cars for them.

 

For the first time in the history of our country, the position of inspector on women’s issues was introduced, comprising only female officers. Working closely with deputy chairpersons of mahalla on women’s issues, they are becoming advisers, defenders and assistants to our mothers and sisters.

 

The role and importance of home affairs bodies has been rising in the social adaptation and the return to a healthy life of citizens who had chosen for various reasons the path of crime and those serving sentence. In the place of an inspection of sentence, we created a probation service. It provides all possible assistance to convicts in education and training the necessary professions, in employment, entrepreneurship, and crucially, in ensuring their rights and interests on the part of employers.

 

The formation of units to ensure safe tourism within the Ministry of Internal Affairs was an important step in the development of this area in our country, in boosting the tourist attractiveness of cities and villages. Currently, these units are adequately served by our young men and women who speak at least three foreign languages, have profound knowledge in history, ethnography and arts.

 

We perceive as the most important result of our reforms the creation of an effective system for training professional personnel for home affairs bodies, with mounting number of officers with such qualities as patriotism and humanism, loyalty to their duty and oath.

 

With the introduction of a new system of parliamentary and public control over the activities of the interior, the practice of reporting to the people by all personnel – from the head to the inspector on prevention – has been significantly increasing the public confidence in them.

 

 

In our difficult, rapidly changing time, when instability and armed clashes are observed in different parts of the world, we must always be vigilant. In these conditions, decisive and effective counteraction to such threats as organized transnational crime, terrorism and extremism, drug trafficking and corruption is becoming increasingly important.

 

Building on these important and pressing requirements that life itself puts before us, in order to further enhance the effectiveness of the bodies of the interior, we must pay special attention to the implementation of following tasks:

 

first, to introduce a qualitatively new system of training intellectual and professional personnel with high spiritual and moral merits;

 

second, bolster efforts to provide the home affairs bodies, especially the services of prevention, criminal search, investigation, road patrol and checkpoint patrol and guard services, as well as forensic units, with modern technology, information and communication systems and special means;

 

third, widely introduce into practice the latest methods and mechanisms of work, digital technologies based on in-depth study of the cutting-edge experience of advanced nations;

 

fourth, gradually consolidate the social protection system for personnel and their families, in particular, qualified medical service, improved conditions of service and rest, material and housing provision;

 

fifth, preserve the glorious history of the home affairs bodies of our country, promote the heroism of officers and veterans of the system, who set the tone for future generations, respect and perpetuate the memory of servicemen and women who gave their lives for the independence of the native land and the peace of the people.

 

The key fulcrum of the country is law, and it would be fair to say that the most effective system capable of showing its strength in practice is the system of the interior.

 

We will continue to direct all our strengths and capacities for the comprehensive development of this system, consolidation of its material and technical base, personnel potential, formation of these bodies as a truly popular system. I express to you, my dears, deep gratitude for selfless work, loyalty to your duty, the Motherland and the people.

 

On this day, we courteously recall the courageous and self-sacrificing representatives of the system who gave their lives for the sake of peace and harmony in the country, and we express, along with festive greetings, our kindest wishes to their families and children.

 

 

Once again I congratulate you on your professional holiday, wish you all a sound health, family well-being, new achievements in your responsible and multifaceted activity.