Georgian opposition claims that police are quitting en masse; authorities deny this
Georgian police quitting en masse
Chairman of the Georgian opposition party “United National Movement” Nika Melia claims there is a massive outflow of personnel from law enforcement agencies, with thousands of police officers leaving Georgia altogether. The authorities say this is not true.
Nika Melia notes that functionaries in various power structures leave their jobs because they do not want to work in the “personal protection” of oligarchs.
“They are leaving the service because they don’t want the Russian dream to come true in this country on their watch. They leave because they don’t want to defend the Russians and their imperialism. They do not want to protect the pro-Kremlin journalist Pozner, who does not recognize the independence of Georgia, and they don’t want to arrest angry Georgian youth.”
According to Melia, the police also do not want to protect the safety of “a close friend of Kadyrov and Sergei Lavrov”, well-known Kadyrov associate Lev Dzengov, who has repeatedly violated the law in the occupied territories and who “spends time in Georgian restaurants.”
Melia also claims that vacancies announced by the Ministry of Internal Affairs in August alone indicate a massive outflow of personnel from law enforcement agencies. The department has in fact announced a competition to fill 145 vacancies in the patrol police.
The UNM chief says the government that replace the current one will do everything to help police fight criminals and not opponents of the government.
Information about a mass exodus of personnel from the Ministry of Internal Affairs have been spreading for several months. According to various sources, some employees leave to work abroad, while others simply look for other work in Georgia.
A few days ago, Radio Liberty published an extensive interview with a former police officer who says that at the moment, employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs have made several hundred requests asking to be relieved of their posts.
Moreover, on August 17 the Ministry of Internal Affairs announced a competition to fill 145 vacancies in the Patrol Police Department.
It should be noted that the Ministry of Internal Affairs not only published an announcement on the department’s official website, where vacancies of this sort are usually published, but also on Facebook.
However, according to the Department of Strategic Communications of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, additional vacancies were announced due to an increase in road traffic and the need to increase patrol service throughout the country.
“Many specialists have left the Ministry of Internal Affairs because they no longer wanted to be links in this vicious chain … But if I protested at work, it would not end very well for me or for others. Shortly before I left my job, my colleague was set up and then arrested. I realized that if I do not support their agenda, I will not be protected either inside or outside,” a former employee of the Ministry of Internal Affairs told Radio Liberty.
Georgian police quitting en masse
