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Vol. 39, Nº 69 (Julio - Diciembre) 2021, 735-755
IEPDP-Facultad de Ciencias Jurídicas y Políticas - LUZ
Recibido el 14//04/2021 Aceptado el 20/06/2021
Legal regulation of practices of the
police as an entity in charge of preventing
and combating corruption in Ukraine
DOI: https://doi.org/10.46398/cuestpol.3969.46
Lina M. Tovpyha *
Igor D. Pastukh **
Tetiana Yu. Tarasevych ***
Serhii V. Bondar ****
Oksana V. Ilina *****
Abstract
This article deals with the legal regulation of the practices of
the police as an entity responsible for preventing and combating
corruption. The study shows that corruption is becoming
increasingly widespread, creating major obstacles to the
comprehensive development of the economy and national security
of any state. The objectives of this study were to clarify the problematic
aspects of the legal regulation of police practices as an entity responsible
for preventing corruption, to identify positive international experience in
this area and to clarify its implementability in Ukraine. The corruption
perceptions index regression analysis method was applied in 12 dierent
countries around the world for 2018 and 2019. On the basis of the analysis,
the authors propose to amend Ukrainian legislation with regard to the
denition of the legal status of police practices as an entity responsible for
preventing and combating corruption at the level of Ukrainian legislation,
detailing the powers of the National Police as a specially authorized entity
in the eld of preventing and combating corruption in the Ukrainian Law
“On the National Police”.
* Lecturer, Department of Theory of State and Law, National Academy of Internal Aairs. ORCID ID:
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0625-1188. Email: linesheane@gmail.com
** PhD in Law, Associate Professor, Head of Department of public management and administration,
National Academy of Internal Aairs. ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5889-7055. Email:
igordp77@gmail.com
*** PhD in Law, Head of Department of Criminal Law and Procedure, Kyiv University of Law the National
Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3860-9909. Email:
loginova67@ukr.net
**** Researcher of Department for the Organization of Scientic Activities and Protection of Intellectual
Property Rights, National Academy of Internal Aairs. ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-
0497-4457. Email: sergii02021984@gmail.com
***** PhD in Law, Associate Professor of Department of Criminal Law Politics and Criminal Law, Taras
Shevchenko National University of Kyiv. ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8933-6368. Email:
221.85.71@ukr.net
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Lina M. Tovpyha, Igor D. Pastukh, Tetiana Yu. Tarasevych, Serhii V. Bondar y Oksana V. Ilina
Legal regulation of practices of the police as an entity in charge of preventing and combating
corruption in Ukraine
Keywords: legal regulation; police practices; prevention subject; combat
subject; corruption.
Regulación legal de las prácticas de la policía como
entidad encargada de prevenir y combatir la corrupción
en Ucrania
Resumen
Este artículo trata sobre la regulación legal de las prácticas de la
policía como entidad encargada de prevenir y combatir la corrupción. El
estudio muestra que la corrupción se está generalizando cada vez más,
creando importantes obstáculos para el desarrollo integral de la economía
y la seguridad nacional de cualquier estado. Los objetivos de este estudio
fueron aclarar los aspectos problemáticos de la regulación legal de las
prácticas de la policía como entidad encargada de prevenir la corrupción,
identicar la experiencia internacional positiva en esta área y aclarar su
implementabilidad en Ucrania. Se aplicó el método de análisis de regresión
del Índice de Percepción de la Corrupción en 12 países diferentes del mundo
para 2018 y 2019. Sobre la base del análisis, los autores proponen modicar
la legislación de Ucrania con respecto a: la denición de la condición
jurídica de las prácticas de la policía como entidad encargada de prevenir
y combatir la corrupción a nivel de la legislación ucraniana; detallando los
poderes de la Policía Nacional como entidad especialmente autorizada en
el campo de la prevención y lucha contra la corrupción en la Ley de Ucrania
«Sobre la Policía Nacional”.
Palabras clave: regulación legal; prácticas policiales; sujeto de
prevención; sujeto de combate; corrupción.
Introduction
Today, society needs protection from corruption more than ever
(Søreide, 2019). The problem of combating corruption eectively is one
of the most acute and dicult challenges (Rybak, 2011). Corruption is
recognized by the world community as a threat to development as a whole
(Kohler and Bowra, 2020). It largely aects the vast majority of countries
and has a negative socio-economic impact (Tacconi and Williams, 2020).
Corruption hinders economic growth and distorts government eorts to
promote development (Lodge, 2019).
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All countries without exception are concerned about the existence
and spread of a destructive phenomenon of corruption, which harms the
activities of public authorities, slows down economic development and
distorts the consciousness of society. As a result, each country implements
its own anti-corruption program, strategy or policy (Khabarova, 2019).
It is worth noting that some countries, in particular Croatia, have some
achievements in this area (Norton Rose Fulbright, 2017). Progress is
especially noticeable in Denmark, Poland and Lithuania.
Corruption, being one of the strong words, carries a striking power.
Various ways to eradicate it — from changing the Constitution to establishing
extrajudicial institutions — have not been fully successful. Corruption
continues to strengthen its position (Raharjo, 2017). Combating is not easy
(Holmes, 2020). There is, however, power that strengthens anti-corruption
regulations in conjunction with regulations aimed at addressing this issue
indirectly, such as competition supervision, nancial supervision and
anti-money laundering instruments. In particular, an appropriate system
of law enforcement agencies has been introduced for the implementation
of legal instruments to combat corruption. The police have an important
place among those law enforcement agencies. Preventing and combating
corruption is one of the police’s functions.
At the same time, it should be noted that the spread of corruption
among police ocers is no exception. Of all oenses committed by police
44% are corruption-based. Moreover, statistics from the Department of
the Interior also show that more than 50% of ocers who committed a
crime had served less than 10 years. This further raises the issue of nding
eective mechanisms to prevent and combat corruption, which primarily
determines the need to develop appropriate legal support.
This issue is especially relevant for Ukraine. After all, despite the fact
that corruption is a stable and objective phenomenon for many countries,
in Ukraine it has reached the level that threatens the very existence of
statehood. A web of corruption is, in fact, becoming a parallel system of
governance, where various issues are resolved on the basis of the business
interests of the most powerful oligarchs instead of being resolved by law
(Durdynets et al., 2020). At the same time, Ukraine’s integration into the
world economy forces it to adhere to international standards and rules
(Lutsenko, 2019). Overcoming the phenomenon of corruption is an integral
condition of our country’s European integration policy.
In accordance with the above issues, the research objective is to clarify
the problematic aspects of the legal regulation of practices of the police
as an entity in charge of preventing and combating corruption, identify
positive foreign experience in this area and ascertain its implementability
in Ukraine. Fullling these objectives will allow making proposals to
improve the quality of legal regulation of the said public relations, as well
as identifying shortcomings of the police powers execution in this area.
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Lina M. Tovpyha, Igor D. Pastukh, Tetiana Yu. Tarasevych, Serhii V. Bondar y Oksana V. Ilina
Legal regulation of practices of the police as an entity in charge of preventing and combating
corruption in Ukraine
The scope of the article is to improve the legal regulation of practices of
the police as an entity in charge of preventing and combating corruption.
1. Literature review
The public danger of corruption is too high. It is well known that
corruption threatens the rule of law, democracy, and human rights,
undermines the foundations of good governance, violates the principles
of equality and social justice, distorts competition, hinders economic
development, threatens the stability of democratic institutions and public
morals (Lobazova, 2019).
The EU citizens recognize the gravity of corruption as a social and
political pathology: 72% of EU residents agree that corruption is a serious
problem in their country. More than 9 out of 10 Greek (94%), Czech (93%),
Hungarian (93%), Portuguese (91%) and Slovenian (91%) citizens share this
concern about corruption. Similarly, 88% of Poles agree that corruption
is a serious problem, while 76% believe that preventing and combating
international corruption will be more eective if it is adopted at the system
level of the European Union rather than at the level of independent states
(Gadowska, 2010).
Transparency International’s largest Global Corruption Barometer
survey, with about 114,000 respondents in 107 countries, conrms that
bribery is a serious global problem. Moreover, one in four respondents
reported paying a bribe in the last twelve months. At the same time, most
respondents consider their governments’ eorts in combating the problem
ineective, and in most countries citizens report that there are now more
cases of corruption than before (Edelman, 2016).
The situation has worsened in recent years, which has been reected
in the deterioration of the Corruption Perceptions Index (Siddiquee
and Zafarullah, 2020). Corruption has become a systemic problem that
harms the most resilient public institutions, forcing the government to
stop fullling its obligations to society and to full only paid obligations
to various inuence groups and elites. This situation rejects and hinders
the transparency of the state machinery, the decision-making process, the
predictability of the investment climate and economic development. In
turn, this leads to inevitable economic and social losses (Durdynets et al.,
2020).
The main causes of corruption are: lack of any anti-corruption policy
and awareness of the importance of such issues as professional ethics,
conict of interest; low wages in certain social spheres, high corporatism,
especially in the police (Truntsevskiy and Olliv’en, 2017).
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Researchers identify several models of institutional prevention and
combating corruption in the world. At the same time, it should be noted that
the positions of foreign and Ukrainian scholars on this issue dier. While
foreign scholars distinguish three models, Ukrainian researchers decide on
only two. Ukrainian scholars identify two fundamentally dierent options
for building anti-corruption mechanism:
1) Separation of an entity outside the law enforcement system, which is
responsible for the development, implementation of anti-corruption
policy and its coordination with anti-corruption strategies. The latter
were dictated by international requirements for combating and
preventing corruption (Lithuania, Latvia);
2) Assignment of these functions to law enforcement agencies
(Romania) (Halkina, 2019).
Foreign scholars attribute the establishment of a large number of various
anti-corruption bodies (Germany) to the rst model, while the inclusion
of combating corruption in the competence of law enforcement bodies
(Romania), the creation of a single specially authorized anti-corruption
body (Lithuania, Latvia) — to the second one (Kanan, 2019).
One of the entities in charge of preventing and combating corruption
in Ukraine is the National Police. Stable and eective functioning
of the National Police of Ukraine, as one of the entities in charge of
combating corruption, is a necessary condition for the protection of the
constitutionalism, law and order, respect for human and civil rights and
freedoms, and the eectiveness of the police stability of social development.
Successful realization of national interests and social development stability
largely depend on the eectiveness of the policing practices (Titunina and
Kirilenko, 2017).
In order to ensure the protection of human rights and freedoms, the
National Police diverts its eorts to counteract this phenomenon both
in the internal organizational activities of the central governing body of
the National Police, in territorial bodies, enterprises, institutions and
organizations belonging to its sphere of administration, and outside this
area (Shatrava, 2016).
In order to reduce the crime rate and create an eective prevention
system in the context of reforming the law enforcement system, it is
necessary, rst of all, to create an eective legal framework in this area,
as well as improve existing forms, methods and measures of preventive
activities, in particular, the police (Kovalenko, 2016). The legal status of
the police as an entity in charge of preventing and combating corruption
remains unclear at the level of national legislation, which determines the
legal background for both anti-corruption activities and policing practices
in general.
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Lina M. Tovpyha, Igor D. Pastukh, Tetiana Yu. Tarasevych, Serhii V. Bondar y Oksana V. Ilina
Legal regulation of practices of the police as an entity in charge of preventing and combating
corruption in Ukraine
The problem of inadequate and imperfect legal regulation of practices
of the police as a subject of preventing and combating corruption through
the Law of Ukraine “On the National Police of Ukraine” is worth noting. In
particular, in terms of clearly determining the powers at the legislative level
of each entity specially authorized for combating corruption in Ukraine in
accordance with assigned functions (Zhukovska, 2018).
Interaction between anti-corruption bodies in Ukraine remains
insuciently regulated, which complicates the implementation of anti-
corruption policy. In particular, these problems are due to insucient
regulation of the activities of new bodies (Muliar and Khovpun, 2019).
We cannot disregard inadequate planning of investigations, inadequate
use of electronic surveillance, inability to question key witnesses, breaches
of condentiality and lack of timeliness. Undoubtedly, the problem is now
smaller than in the past, thanks to, for example, widespread introduction
of more eective verication practices, better education, greater use of
modern covert investigations, much more competent and dedicated internal
investigators and professionalization in general. However, the problem has
not disappeared in any case (Miller, 2014).
Besides, the fact that the police are one of the entities in charge of
combating corruption does not mean that corruption cannot exist among
the police. Despite the general increase in trust in the police and their sta,
public opinion polls over the past few years suggest that anti-corruption
eorts today need to be not only external, but also internal (within the
police units). It is obvious that corrupt law enforcement agencies are not
able to perform their tasks eectively, and this quickly poses a real threat
to the state, society and the individual (Pechegin and Prokhorova, 2017).
Accordingly, the education system, and the police ocer training
system in our case, is the most important social institution in combating
corruption. The younger generation has weakness associated with the
development of anti-corruption culture itself, so we can conclude that anti-
corruption education is needed for the younger generation to help them
form a legal consciousness to behave in line with anti-corruption provisions
(Sabila, 2020).
Professional education is the most important part of modern education,
as it forms the future specialist’s need to take into account not only
personal but also public and state interests. The existing anti-corruption
legislative framework does not allow to overcome the manifestations of
corruption without a set of activities, which include the implementation
of a psychological program of building anti-corruption culture (Klymenko,
2019).
In addition, reducing the incentives and opportunities for corruption in
the police is possible by improving their low wages and miserable working
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conditions, as well as the public punishment of corrupt police ocers
(Quah, 2019).
The most eective approach to organizational and legal support
of combating corruption is one that includes criminal prosecution,
transparency of information about civil servants and individuals, as well as
the interaction of law enforcement agencies with scal authorities to identify
sources and ows of illegal support. All this requires the active participation
of civil society institutions, as only the public is able to ensure the necessary
level of transparency in the implementation of anti-corruption practices
(Durdynets et al., 2020). Anti-corruption activists, which include NGOs,
public organizations, student activists, and social media are important in
this area.
Openness of the power entities, moral and psychological rejection of
corruption by citizens, strengthening transparency and promoting the
involvement of the population in the implementation of anti-corruption
activities, that is a number of ethical (for employees) and moral (for society)
principles that prevent citizens from committing acts of corruption, cause a
decrease in corruption rates (Khabarova, 2019).
Only a comprehensive approach to tackling corruption will eradicate
negative trends and manifestations. It is reasonable to solve the problems
that have arisen both at the level of legislation, and at the level of
organization of law enforcement activities. Special attention should be paid
to the education and personality development of future law enforcement
ocers (Sebeleva, 2020).
Review of Ukrainian and foreign literature shows that scholars have
limited coverage of the legal regulation of practices of the police as an
entity in charge with preventing and combating corruption. In particular,
researchers focus mainly on the aspect of preventing and combating
corruption in general.
2. Methods and materials
Most research on preventing and combating involved methods of
statistical processing of the results. Statistical research allows revealing the
picture of corruption indicators in Ukraine and the world. More eective
models for preventing and combating corruption can be found by comparing
statistics from dierent countries and years.
Our research involved the method of regression analysis. In the rst
stage of the study, we built statistical distributions through the method
of regression analysis and developed two charts of Corruption Perception
Index (CPI) in dierent countries based on the data obtained using the
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Lina M. Tovpyha, Igor D. Pastukh, Tetiana Yu. Tarasevych, Serhii V. Bondar y Oksana V. Ilina
Legal regulation of practices of the police as an entity in charge of preventing and combating
corruption in Ukraine
dialectical method, which reected the number of points for 2018 (Figure
1) and 2019 (Figure 2). In particular, we selected statistics on the CPI of
12 countries, including Ukraine, from a list of 180 countries providing
published data of the global ranking of corruption indices of Transparency
International for 2018 and 2019. Subsequently, the selected data were
analysed and displayed by placing on charts in alphabetical order by
country name for further comparison. The comparison revealed some
dierences in the ratings with the same list of countries but dierent years.
In the second stage of the study, the countries selected for comparison were
grouped according to the anti-corruption model and shown in Table 1. In
the third stage of the study, conclusions were drawn based on the obtained
data using the observation method, which later became the basis for the
proposals.
Corruption Perceptions Index (СРІ) is an indicator that has been
calculated by Transparency International since 1995. The organization
itself does not conduct its own surveys. The index is calculated on the basis
of 13 studies of reputable international institutions and research centres.
Ukraine’s gures we calculated on the basis of 9 sources. The Corruption
Perceptions Index is based on independent research and surveys involving
international nancial and human rights experts, including the World
Bank, Freedom House, the World Economic Forum, the Asian and African
Development Banks, etc.
Unit of measurement is a point. The key indicator of the Index is the
number of points, not the place in the ranking. The minimum score (0
points) means that corruption actually replaces the state, the maximum
(100 points) indicates that there is almost no corruption in society.
3. Results and discussion
As initial descriptive evidence, Figure 1 and Figure 2 show that the
Corruption Perception Index varies from country to country. In particular,
this is illustrated by the example of 12 countries such as: Bulgaria, Armenia,
Denmark, Latvia, Lithuania, Germany, Poland, Russia, Romania, Slovakia,
Hungary, Ukraine. At the same time, the picture of the Corruption
Perceptions Index in the same countries for dierent years also diers,
although not signicantly. The results obtained are shown in Figure 1 and
Figure 2.
The source data for comparison were taken from Transparency
International’s Global Corruption Index for 2018 and 2019.
30 points out of 100 possible is the result of the 2019 Corruption
Perceptions Index for Ukraine. In 2018, the indicators were equal to 32
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points. This indicates that the situation with preventing and combating
corruption in Ukraine has deteriorated compared to 2018.
Russia is next to Ukraine in the ranking. However, the indicators of the
Corruption Perceptions Index in Russia have remained unchanged. Among
its neighbours, Ukraine is ahead of Russia, which has maintained its
position (28 points). Poland (58 points) and Slovakia (50 points) are in the
lead among the neighbours. While Poland has minus 2 points, Slovakia is
stable in its indicators compared to 2018. We also see a slight decrease in the
index in Denmark — minus 1 point, Latvia, Hungary and Poland — minus
2. At the same time, CPI leaders have not changed signicantly. Denmark
and Germany rank rst with 87 and 80 points, respectively. Bulgaria and
Lithuania scored + 1 in the ranking. At the same time, Armenia added the
most points (+7) (42 in total) compared to the previous year.
Figure 1. Corruption Perceptions Index 2018
Source: Transparency International Ukraine (2018).
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Lina M. Tovpyha, Igor D. Pastukh, Tetiana Yu. Tarasevych, Serhii V. Bondar y Oksana V. Ilina
Legal regulation of practices of the police as an entity in charge of preventing and combating
corruption in Ukraine
Figure 2. Corruption Perceptions Index for 2019
Source: Transparency International Ukraine (2019)
The charts above show that some countries are severely aected by
corruption, while others are less aected by it, but none is impervious to
the problem.
At the same time, according to the anti-corruption models (Kanan,
2019), the countries can be grouped as follows on the Table 1.
Table 1. The types of anti-corruption models and the countries
that use them
Model Country
1. The function of combating corruption
is entrusted to a large number of various
anti-corruption bodies
Germany, Ukraine, Poland,
Slovakia
2. There is a separate entity outside the
law enforcement system
Lithuania, Latvia, Armenia,
the Russian Federation
3. Anti-corruption is attributed to the
competence of the law enforcement body
Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria,
Denmark
Source: Own elaborate
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The considered results allow assuming that the model where the
anti-corruption function is entrusted to a large number of various anti-
corruption bodies is the most eective in terms of combating corruption.
After all, while Lithuania and Latvia have a separate entity outside the
law enforcement system, which is responsible for the development,
implementation of anti-corruption policy and its coordination with
anti-corruption strategies, Germany created a large number of various
anti-corruption bodies, in Romania anti-corruption is attributed to the
competence of the law enforcement agency. At the same time, in Latvia the
indicators of the Corruption Perception Index in 2019 decreased by only
two points compared to 2018, in Lithuania — increased by one point, in
Germany - remained unchanged, in Romania the indicators decreased
by three points. Leading countries in the ght against corruption have
institutions to combat corruption of all types, but there are also countries
that do not have specialized bodies to combat this phenomenon. However,
in Ukraine, which has various anti-corruption bodies as Germany, the
situation is getting worse, as the Corruption Perception Index fell by two
points. At the same time, the general nature of the indicator does not allow
recording various manifestations of corruption and give detailed advice on
how to combat this phenomenon. Thus, one cannot speak of the advantages
of one type of specialized anti-corruption institution over others.
As for Ukraine, in our opinion, this situation is due to the fact that
today a number of legal and organizational tasks of the police as one of the
subjects of anti-corruption remain unresolved in Ukraine. In particular, the
powers of the police are regulated by Section IV of the Law of Ukraine No.
580-VIII “On the National Police” dated July 2, 2015 (Verkhovna Rada of
Ukraine, 2015). The rst part of Article 23 of this Law, which includes 28
paragraphs, determines the main powers of the police in accordance with
functions assigned. They include: preventive activities aimed at preventing
oenses (paragraph 1); pre-trial investigation of criminal oenses within the
relevant jurisdiction (paragraph 6); in cases provided by law — proceedings
in cases of administrative oenses, making decisions on the penalties under
administrative law and ensuring their enforcement (paragraph 8), etc.
Given the above, we can state that the powers listed above are general
in nature. Of course, when it comes to preventing oenses, oenses are
interpreted as both corruption and corruption-related oenses. Pre-
trial investigation of criminal oenses within the relevant jurisdiction
also provides for investigation into corruption oenses. Accordingly,
administrative proceedings include corruption-related administrative
proceedings.
Thus, no specic powers of the National Police as a specially authorized
anti-corruption entity are established at the legislative level, the Law of
Ukraine “On the National Police” does not determine the units that can be
assigned special anti-corruption powers (Zhukovska, 2018).
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Lina M. Tovpyha, Igor D. Pastukh, Tetiana Yu. Tarasevych, Serhii V. Bondar y Oksana V. Ilina
Legal regulation of practices of the police as an entity in charge of preventing and combating
corruption in Ukraine
The legal status of the police as an entity in charge of preventing and
combating corruption should be claried at the level of national legislation,
which provides the legal framework for both anti-corruption activities
and policing practices in general. In particular, the provisions of the Law
of Ukraine “On Prevention of Corruption” (Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine,
2014) should dene the police as a specially authorized entity in charge
of preventing and combating corruption (Section 1 of Article 1). In turn,
the provisions of the Law of Ukraine “On the National Police” shall have
broader denition of the police’s function to combat crime as the task of
preventing and combating crime.
A signicant gap relates to the lack of an established mechanism for
protecting those who disclosed or reported information about corrupt
practices of ocials. Article 53 of the Law of Ukraine “On Prevention
of Corruption” stipulates for state protection of persons providing
assistance in preventing and combating corruption. But in practice, the
Law of Ukraine “On Ensuring Security of the Persons who Participate in
Criminal Legal Proceedings”, which provides for the state protection of
those who help in combating corruption is implemented at a rather low
level. First of all, this is due to nancial problems and the workload of law
enforcement agencies. Therefore, the mechanism of protection of persons
who disclose information about corruption oenses needs both legislative
and organizational improvement (Luhovyi, 2019).
In order to eectively full the main crime prevention tasks and functions
of the police, it is necessary not only to improve the legal framework of
practices of the police in accordance with international standards, but also
to increase the eciency of the National Police of Ukraine. It is necessary to
look for qualitatively new approaches to the implementation of preventive
activities that will correspond to the realities of today, and take into account
current trends in society and the state. The performance of crime prevention
functions by police units depends not only on a clear legal denition of
the functions, rights and responsibilities of each structural unit, but also
on their actual implementation in practice, as well as the coordination of
actions of these entities in prevention activities. The work of all police units
to prevent crime should be coordinated both internally (coordination of
actions of the National Police of Ukraine), and externally (police units must
coordinate their actions with other government agencies, NGOs, individual
citizens engaged in preventive activities) (Kovalenko, 2016).
The key to successful performance of the task of minimizing the
manifestations of corruption is to ensure the appropriate level of knowledge
of anti-corruption legislation as representatives of public administration
and society as a whole. On the one hand, it contributes to the eective
operation of statutory preventive anti-corruption mechanisms, and, on the
other — increases the level of legal awareness of citizens, which reduces the
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risk of violation of their fundamental rights and freedoms in everyday life,
and also contributes to the formation of intolerance of the population to
the manifestations of corruption (Shatrava, 2016). In particular, training
of ocials, especially those in direct contact with perpetrators (police
ocers in this case), is an important component of preventing corruption
(Truntsevskiy and Olliv’en, 2017).
In addition, the problem of corruption in the police themselves needs to
be addressed. Corruption in the police is a widespread serious problem for
many reasons. One is that the police, as opposed to other civil servants, are
often armed and can therefore pose a physical threat to citizens. Second,
citizens usually expect the police to support the law and become the “last
destination” in combating crime, including with other government ocials:
if there is no trust in law enforcement ocers, most citizens have nowhere
else to go in search of justice (Holmes, 2020).
The anti-corruption culture development in future police ocers, taking
into account the anti-corruption component, should be a purposeful process
of training and education for the benet of both society and the individual,
which provides for achieving the following objectives: acquaintance with
corruption and its manifestations in various spheres of life, their causes
and consequences; development of the basics of legal culture and skills of
adequate analysis and personal assessment of this social phenomenon;
teaching cadets that corruption is multifaceted, it is associated not only
with illegal actions in the eld of economic and political relations, but also
is a specic element of culture and consciousness of society; give knowledge
that provides behaviour complying with legal and moral and ethical norms in
corrupt genic situations; overcoming legal nihilism; stimulating motivation
for anti-corruption behaviour; formation of a clear and consistent attitude
to corruption, active negative attitude to this phenomenon; formation of
behavioural mechanisms to combat corruption, etc. Thus, anti-corruption
culture development programs should be systemic, and should include
anti-corruption components, which will be aimed at developing cadets’
anti-corruption worldview, raising the level of their legal awareness and
legal culture (Klymenko, 2019).
It is advisable to use anti-corruption education at dierent stages
of professional activity with the use of a comprehensive approach to the
formation of anti-corruption behaviour, which allows the use of various
forms of training of police ocers. After all, it is a comprehensive approach
that allows paying attention to the needs and diculties in the eld of
corruption prevention in the learning process, without spending time
for basic educational information (Mironkina, 2020). It is necessary to
take into account the anti-corruption component in professional training
of future police ocers as a set of these components of the individual’s
anti-corruption culture: cognitive, emotional-motivational, behavioural
(Klymenko, 2019).
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Lina M. Tovpyha, Igor D. Pastukh, Tetiana Yu. Tarasevych, Serhii V. Bondar y Oksana V. Ilina
Legal regulation of practices of the police as an entity in charge of preventing and combating
corruption in Ukraine
The experience of foreign countries in the studied eld also deserves
attention, in particular, the experience of countries with the best indicators
of the Corruption Perceptions Index. Currently, we can benet from more
than 10 years of experience in other European countries (Hac, 2016). The
anti-corruption strategy at the national level in Lithuania shows progress
over the last ten years (Norton Rose Fulbright, 2017).
An eective system for preventing corruption oenses in the German
police is based on detailed legal regulation at both the federal and state
levels, and includes not only organizational but also social measures
(Pechegin and Prokhorova, 2017). Germany also provides quite fruitful
cooperation between scal and law enforcement agencies in combating
corruption, where the concept of “unfair enrichment”, which is widely used
in tax and civil law, is enshrined in law (Huzovatyi, 2016).
Expanding the system of combating corruption crimes in the eld
of regulatory impact of tax legislation signicantly increases the ability
of law enforcement agencies to track the origin and legality of the use
of income and nancial resources of citizens. The instruments of scal
authorities not only expand the possibilities of supervision and monitoring
of criminal investigation bodies, but also perform a preventive function, as
this signicantly complicates the commission of the relevant type of crime
(Durdynets et al., 2020).
The Polish police have developed anti-corruption solutions that, as an
institution and, indirectly, as the environment of police ocers, have gone
through many dierent stages, reaching the current state of aairs (Hac,
2016).
The policy of preventing and combating corruption in Poland implements
a wide range of disciplinary and criminal measures (strengthening criminal
and administrative legislation to combat corruption; establishment of
specialized institutions; establishment of special mechanisms of external
and internal control over public administration; eective judicial system),
preventive (mechanisms that facilitate various procedures, where the
subjects are citizens on the one part and public authorities on the other;
elimination of gaps in legislation that gave way to corruption abuse;
clear detailed codes of conduct for public ocials and specic steps to
act in certain situations; providing access to public information and
e-government; instruction of the population and ocials; support for
non-governmental organizations, etc.). Taken together, all these measures
yield adequate results, which allows eradicating corruption from the public
sector in Poland year to year, and brings the country closer to states with a
minimum level of corruption (Rybak, 2011).
Using a unique survey of Polish central government civil servants, it
was found that, where applied in practice, disciplinary and ethical codes
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reinforce each other in order to restrain bribery as a form of corruption
in the civil service. Anti-corruption activities are the most eective when
managers have several consistently implemented tools (Meyer-Sahling and
Mikkelsen, 2020).
Analysing the experience of Denmark, we can conclude that the corruption
prevention activities implemented in European countries coincide with
the anti-corruption measures applied in Ukraine for the most part. Those
activities include, in particular: adoption of anti-corruption legislation,
ratication of international treaties, introduction of public control,
establishment of stricter responsibility for committing acts of corruption,
etc. However, there is a certain feature that reduces the corruption level
— it is the openness of the authorities, moral and psychological rejection
of corruption by citizens, increasing transparency and promoting public
involvement in anti-corruption activities. That is, a number of ethical (for
employees) and moral (for the whole society) principles are applied that do
not allow citizens to commit acts of corruption. On this basis, we can also
conclude that one of the priority principles that can reduce the corruption
level is the moral and ethical education of citizens — this is what Ukraine
should actually strive for (Khabarova, 2019).
To combat oenses in the public institutions, methods selected in such a
way as to be both preventive (including by raising awareness of the dangers
and avoiding situations of corruption) among employees, and to act as a
deterrent to potential oenders, should be used. Focusing on just one of
these areas will not be that much eective. Over the last decade, a little-
known but noteworthy method of combating oences in public institutions
has been adopted and remains in use in Europe, including in the countries
of the so-called post-Soviet bloc. This is called integrity testing — a solution
that was initially widely used by public safety groups in the Anglo-Saxon
countries and the United States and has been successfully implemented in
some countries on our continent (Hac, 2016).
Methods that can signicantly reduce corruption also include reducing
discretionary decision-making, radical restructuring, risk assessment,
greater use of psychological testing, improved working conditions, lifestyle
monitoring, the creation of anti-corruption agencies that are completely
independent of the police (Holmes, 2020).
In connection with the emergence and large-scale development of
information systems and technologies, humanity has got a new way of
life — information, which has become increasingly important and integral
phenomenon of the world. The opportunities of informational impact on
people has increased enormously, making higher adaptive requirements
to them and society as a whole. The modern world is characterized by the
rapid development of information technology (Yakhontova and Yakhontov,
2020). Therefore, it would be reasonable to introduce active media
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Lina M. Tovpyha, Igor D. Pastukh, Tetiana Yu. Tarasevych, Serhii V. Bondar y Oksana V. Ilina
Legal regulation of practices of the police as an entity in charge of preventing and combating
corruption in Ukraine
monitoring. After all, given the insecurity of those who make information
about corruption oenses public, we should not expect a signicant increase
in the number of reports.
In general, a systemic approach must also be introduced for the
eective implementation of anti-corruption policy in Ukraine. After all, the
phenomenon of corruption is systemic, and, accordingly, it can be overcome
only by joint eorts. Prevention of corruption, as a strategic direction of state
policy, should be carried out in a combination of targeted actions of persons
authorized to perform state functions within the implementation of a single
state anti-corruption system (Boboshko, 2018). Only eective cooperation
may help to restore human rights and freedoms, the state in criminal
proceedings, and bring the perpetrators to justice (Muliar and Khovpun,
2019). After all, although there are several dierent law enforcement
agencies in dierent countries authorized to prevent corruption, the lack
of coordination between them makes their total value less than the value
of the parts. For the most part, law enforcement agencies with narrow
powers to detect and act on issues other than corruption rarely exercise
their potential in practice when it comes to combating the symptoms of
corruption, as their law enforcement actions are not enough coordinated
(Søreide, 2019).
Conclusions
Based on the above, we can conclude that it is appropriate to clarify the
legal status of the police as an entity in charge of preventing and combating
corruption at the level of national legislation, which provides the legal
framework for both anti-corruption activities and policing practices in
general.
In addition, the powers of the National Police as a specially authorized
entity in the eld of preventing and combating corruption provided in the
Law of Ukraine “On the National Police” need to be specied in detail. It is
advisable to identify the units that may be entrusted with special powers in
the eld of preventing and combating corruption.
The gap related to the lack of an established mechanism to protect
those persons who have disclosed or reported information about corrupt
practices of ocials needs to be addressed at the legislative level.
The legal regulation of practices of the police as an entity in charge of
preventing and combating corruption is not perfect both in Ukraine and in
the world. However, the experience in regulating the practices of the police
as an entity in charge of preventing and combating corruption in some
European countries undoubtedly shows some progress in comparison with
Ukraine.
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Ukraine is currently not entirely on the right track. Therefore, it would
be appropriate to make appropriate changes to the legislation of Ukraine,
considering foreign experience in this area. Regarding the cooperation of
the police with other law enforcement agencies, with the public, education
and training of police ocers, their public awareness activities. At the same
time, we must not forget that there is no universal model in the world that
would meet all the necessary criteria for our state.
It is necessary to look for qualitatively new approaches to the preventive
activities that will correspond to the realities of today and take into account
current trends in society and the state.
Finally, it should be noted that the issue of legal regulation of practices
of the police as a subject of preventing and combating corruption requires
further research. Given the current situation in Ukraine, it is advisable
to consider the experience of anti-corruption activities of the police of
countries with ongoing armed conicts.
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