The Interior Ministry is drafting a legislative package expanding the rights of police along the "presumption of police authority" lines, the minister Arsen Avakov wrote on Facebook.
The legislative changes will be aimed at giving the police more rights when interacting with citizens. who must first obey the police and then, if need be, appeal the actions of law enforcement officers.
"Would this pose a restriction of civil liberties? Not at all. This is a matter of pure procedural safety that for a very short period time delays the citizen's right to appeal against actions of the police," Avakov wrote.
He stressed that an effective law enforcement system cannot be built otherwise.
"The presumption of authority of the police should work, as is the case in Germany, the USA, the UK, France, Italy, Canada and many other countries ... In the package of legislative initiatives […]that we are preparing for submission to the parliament, the interior ministry will offer members of parliament to implement this norm in the legislative field," Avakov wrote.
On Sunday, 25 September, in the city of Dnipro, a patrol team stopped a car for a traffic violation. The driver, who appeared to be on the wanted list, put up resistance, shot a patrol officer, wounded his female partner and fled the scene. The woman officer later died in hospital.
The suspect, Oleksandr Puhachov, 33, was a former of member of the volunteer battalion Tornado. He was arrested by police officers later in the day in a hospital, where he was trying to be operated on forged documents.
Investigation is underway