On March 14, Armenian President made a speech at the session of the Police board and told officers and generals: “I am ashamed because of you”. The President is ashamed because the policeman sees a law violation and looks away, because knowing concrete murderers the policemen often punish innocent people. Probably, this list can be continued, since probably there is no deficit in deeds, which the policemen should be ashamed of. 

Serzh Sargsian also mentioned the Traffic Police. 

 “We very often touch upon problems of the Traffic Police, in certain cases we make changes, then in the course of time we notice regress. It seems this has become a usual thing”, the President stated. 

Now let’s recall the question and the answer, which were voiced two years ago at a news conference on April 10, 2009, devoted to the first year of Serzh Sargsian’s rule on the position of the Armenian President: 

– Mister President, wouldn’t you agree that one of the greatest problems of the authorities is being inconsistent. Nearly one year ago, the Chief of police and his deputies declared that there would be no more untouchable cars or drivers. However, the attitude lasted for only couple of months. Nowadays everywhere one can observe a situation when traffic violators are calling their patrons and after that we witness no punishment at all. Don’t you think these incidences undermine public trust in the authorities?

- I would not agree with you that today there are many untouchable individuals. Every day on the streets of Yerevan one can witness a situation when cars are towed away, fines are imposed, etc. On the other hand we should understand that had it been so easy to overcome those problems in a short period of time it would have been done long ago. This problem is not only ours; it is a problem in many countries, particularly in the countries of developing democracy. I cannot also agree that the authorities or I personally are being inconsistent. You could have blamed me for inconsistency if I had changed my signals, if I had not sent a signal each time to the police that they must be firmer, that they must act according to the law, by the letter of law, that they must arrest those who take bribes, that the violators must be disciplined, etc. Had I failed to do it you could have called me inconsistent. But it should be understood that it is a difficult process and it requires time, much time. We should understand that the structures have developed “traditions” and it is a very difficult task to break them down. The important thing is not to despair and to continue our struggle. We may fail, but someone else will succeed. But we must bring our contribution to that process. The charge of inconsistency is not fair.

Two years have passed and if we judge on the basis of the tough statements of the President on March 14, we can assume that the impulses, sent out by Serzh Sargsian, do not give the desired effect. I believe the reason is obvious: this is the very inconsistency, which the journalist was asking the President about two years ago. If consistency was at a proper level, the President should not have to enumerate all the vicious phenomena in the Police today. 

In fact, over these two years no significant changes have been registered in the work of the Police. It is obvious that reforms require time. However, there is another problem hidden here: when a particular process does not have an exact deadline, it can continue forever. 

If we speak of traffic policemen, I am sure that the inspectors more than anybody else want the people, violating the law, to be punished with all strictness of the law.  Well, or at least the majority of the inspectors want that, since people, violating the law, first of trifle with the dignity of the inspectors, demonstrating that one call to their leadership is worth more than the law and the honor of the officer. 

Of course, as the President said, one should install cameras for more efficient struggle against violators of traffic rules. Only, please, let’s not deceive ourselves, at least not now: the cameras will not become a “magic wand”. If today the policeman looks away not to notice the obvious and impudent violation, tomorrow he will voluntarily or under pressure have to delete the record from the camera, which has fixed the violation. And nothing will change as long as there are untouchable people with their untouchable bodyguards or “assistants”. And everybody knows that there are quite a few of those people, one should simply go to the street and observe the traffic in the center of Yerevan for an hour. 

The Police really needs a positive image. However the leaders of the Police should understand that a positive image is created by means of the real life and real merits of the policemen, and not by means of “The Policemen” soap opera, shooting which costs quite significant money. 

Ara Tadevosyan is the Director of Mediamax.