Interior Minister reports on activities of Ministry

The Georgian Interior Minister Vakhtang Gomelauri on Wednesday reported about the activities and the plans of his institution within the Minister’s Hour format, used by the Government members to report on the work of their ministries.

In his address to the Georgian Parliament, Gomelauri noted that his Ministry last year implemented a number of reforms for the effective implementation of law and order and improving policing services for citizens.

“Specific statistical indicators as well as those international studies that give a high assessment to the activities of Georgian law enforcement officers show the effectiveness of the mentioned reforms and the fight against crime”, Gomelauri told MPs.

He stressed that ​​prevention of crime, effective response to it, protection of law and order and safety required a lot of effort, tireless work and dedication from law enforcement officers every day.

The Minister highlighted that 2023 was a special year both in terms of increasing employees' salary as well as in terms of improving working conditions as the infrastructure, equipment and material and technical base had been updated.

Gomelauri also noted that Georgia had improved its index compared to 2023 in the annual global rating of the international organisation Law and Order in terms of privacy and its quality by law enforcement bodies.

“According to this index, Georgia is ahead of countries, such as France, Italy, Australia, Hungary, Belgium, Canada, Japan, Croatia etc. and shares equal points with countries like Austria, the Netherlands, Hong Kong and UAE”, he continued.

The Minister also highlighted that 2023 was crucial in terms of reforming the criminal police.

The acute challenge in 2023 implied the illegal drug trade, however, the police and law enforcement officers, through effective and active measures, increased the index of the revealed drug crimes by 21% compared to 2022.

“In 2023, the trend of increasing crime detection rate continued. The detection of registered crimes exceeds 64 percent. Also, the trend of decreasing crime continues. Significant crimes such as murders and attempted murders have been reduced”, he said.

The official pointed out that the fight against organised crimes remained a priority last year and the 2023-2024 action plan for combating organised crime was developed.

“The fight against organised crime remained a priority last year as well. Within the framework of the activities of the Interagency Coordination Council, under the leadership of the Internal Affairs Ministry, the 2023-2024 action plan for combating organised crime was developed”, he added.

The official further added that as the United States Department of State Report on Human Trafficking provided, Georgia took the highest point in terms of countering trafficking.

The Minister also underlined international police cooperation and noted that 18 Georgian police attachés had been seconded to cover 36 countries.

Gomelauri highlighted “important” steps taken in land border protection, swift response, operative and investigative components, qualification of a border guard, improvement of field training, equipment of the sectors, inculcation of modern IT software and development of border aviation forces.

“In order to implement the best European experience in practice and the effectiveness of the integrated management of the state border of Georgia, in 2023, the Integrated Risk Analysis Model of Georgia's state border was approved”, Gomelauri told MPs.

The Minister pointed out that 2023 was a challenge for the emergency management department as well.

“The fire rescuers have numerously proved to be capable of sacrificing their lives 24/7. The stories of the heroism of the Georgian rescuers circulated worldwide when hundreds of Georgian fire-fighters were assigned to Turkey to get engaged in the rescuer operations”, Gomelauri said.

The official vowed that the Internal Affairs Ministry would actively continue implementing measures and reforms focused on crime prevention, fight against crime, protection of law and order and security of the Georgian citizens.