Legal Regulation of Police Administrative Activities: Problems and Prospects

Zaprutin Denis Grigor'evich PhD in Pedagogy Associate Professor, Department of Law Enforcement and National Security, SOUTH URAL STATE UNIVERSITY, Federal State Educational Institution "Russian Academy of National Economy and Public Administration under the President of the Russian Federation" Department of State and Legal Disciplines 454048, Russia, Chelyabinsk, Shaumyan str., 89, sq. 81 zaprutindg@yandex.ru

The analysis of national sources of law demonstrates that the origins of the legal regulation of the administrative activities of the police are found since the XIV century. This question is relevant, since the significance of historical research in the named and other legal plane is quite large: such data explain the grounds of origin, as well as the trends of genesis, penetration into modern jurisprudence, into the legal system of concepts, principles, scientific positions ^{[1, p. 40]} about this activity.

 It is generally recognized that the term "police", as a derivative of the Greek word "politeia" ("polis" – city), is actively used in the jurisprudence of Ancient Rome and subsequently introduced into legal circulation, both in European countries and in the domestic legal system (since the reign of Peter the Great, translated into Russian means the urban structure and administrative management. By "police" was meant such activity of state bodies, which concerned issues mediated by the need for the said management in various spheres of life: this includes ensuring state and personal security, crime prevention, and the adoption of sources of law aimed, inter alia, at ensuring supervisory powers over the administration of justice, the implementation of religious rites, etc.

"The police are a significant part of the city authorities entrusted with the supervision of deanery, good morals and order in the city," is stated in the Charter of the City of St. Petersburg in 1872 ^[2].

It is generally recognized that the origins of the legal regulation of the administrative activities of the police are dated to the historical period marked by acts of centralization taking place in the Moscow state in the XIV century–XV century), when the organs of the Russian political investigation were part of the tsarist system (power) ^{[3, p. 115]}. At this stage of development, the activities of the state apparatus were aimed at protecting the autocracy and preventing crime against the Russian autocracy. Local, as well as central state authorities for the implementation of their administrative activities, including those related to the prevention of offenses and the prosecution of offenders for political reasons, had the powers provided for by the acts of the branches of criminal, criminal procedure law.

A significant step in the direction of regulating the administrative activities of the national police is possible to recognize the adoption in 1713 . Decree of Peter I "On the foundation of the Investigative Office of M. I. Volkonsky" ^[4], During this period, the first national investigative bodies were created, called "major" offices (in accordance with the Nominal Decree of M. I. Volkonsky. St. Petersburg from July 25, 1713), which, since 1717, were subordinate to the Emperor and were authorized to carry out preliminary investigations, to prevent various types of crime. At the same time, criminal cases on the commission of acts mediated by encroachments on the state system of Russia (corruption of officials, as well as their bribery, embezzlement, as well as forgery, fraud) were included in the jurisdiction of these bodies. 

As the administrative tasks of the police, these regulations indicate: ensuring the protection of public order. countering crime phenomena, monitoring fire safety, ensuring supervision of the improvement of settlements and their sanitary condition ^{[5, p.49]}. As part of the implementation of administrative activities, in accordance with the approved May 25, 1718 By Peter I, the Instruction "Points given to the St. Petersburg Police Chief General", the powers of the Police Chief General, and subsequently of the Russian police authorities included the discretion to ensure that the construction of buildings and the implementation of trade activities were carried out in accordance with the instructions of authorized persons; the streets were kept clean; suspicious people, as well as visitors and the departing individuals were under control. The duty to ensure law and order was assigned to persons holding the positions of guardsman, headman and desyatsky, authorized to implement certain types of police activity, including with regard to the application of "duty of standing for each rank and rank" ^{[6, p.27]}.

Of particular importance for the development of the administrative activities of the national police was the establishment in 1718 in St. Petersburg of the post of Police Chief General (head of the chancellery).

In the course of historical development, the administrative activities of the police were improved and regulated, in particular, by such normative legal acts as the Statute on the Prevention and Suppression of Crimes, adopted in 1832 and included in the national codified act - the Code of Laws of the Russian Empire ^[7], which has been repeatedly amended (1864, 1867, 1881, 1883, 1887, 1890, 1893, 1896, 1899, 1900, 1902, 1903, 1906, 1910 G. G.) ^{[8] [9, p.22]}. The Charter included in its content 310 articles and the following 5 sections: (Section 1 "On the prevention and suppression of crimes against faith"; Section 2 "On the prevention and suppression of crimes against public order and Government institutions"; section 3 "On the prevention and suppression of riots at public meetings, amusements and amusements, as well as on suppression of obvious temptation and debauchery in behavior"; Section 4 "On the prevention and suppression of crimes against personal security"; Section 5 "On the prevention and suppression of crimes against property").

Thus, in accordance with article 1 of the Charter on the prevention and suppression of crimes, "the Governors, the local police and in General all places and persons with the authorities on the part of civilian or military, are obliged, use dependent nih funds to prevent and punish Saka action, tending to the breach have respect for the faith, or of the public peace, order, order, security and safety of assets, as guided by im data by orders or instructions, tak and regulations unto seven Charter opredelennymi".

At the initial stage of the Soviet period of the development of Russian statehood, characterized by the lack of proper law and order, a significant increase in crime, the adoption of ineffective sources of law, it is not possible to recognize the administrative activities of the police as progressive ^[11]. Meanwhile, as normative legal acts aimed at improving such activities, it is advisable to recognize the Resolution of the NKVD of the RSFSR "On the Workers' Militia" of 1917 ^[12]; the Instruction of the NKVD of the RSFSR on the organization of the Soviet workers' and Peasants' militia of 1918 ^[13]. Of particular importance for the development of the administrative activities of the police in this period was the Decree of the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR regulating the powers of the workers' and peasants' militia ^[14], adopted in 1919, as well as the Regulation on this state body, approved in 1920 ^[15]

Subsequently, the administrative activities of the militia, as the main law enforcement agency of the Soviet state, which was part of the NKVD for a certain period of time, were regulated by various sources of national law ^{[16] [17] [18] [19] [20] [21]}, the system of which (taking into account the main historical stages of the genesis of the Russian police) can be It is presented as follows: Stage I (1718-1761) – from the date of foundation of the national police; Stage II (1762-1801). marked by the creation of police bodies in Russian counties; stage III (1802-1861) – from the moment of the establishment of police bodies to global police reforms; stage IV, dated from 1861 to 1917 – the time of the creation of the Soviet state; Stage V (1917 -2011) – from the moment of the formation of Soviet police bodies to the modern stage, VI the stage (modern), beginning in 2011 with the adoption of Federal Law No. 3-FZ "On the Police" ^{[22] [23]}.

The analysis of the historical foundations of the legal regulation of the administrative activities of such a law enforcement agency as the police also allows us to note: until March 1, 2011, such activities were regulated by the Law of the RSFSR of April 18, 1991 No. 1026 "On Militia" ^[24]. In accordance with the main provisions of this source (Article 2), the leading tasks of the police, reflecting the administrative activities of this body, included, in particular: ensuring the protection of public order, personal and public safety; prevention, suppression, detection, disclosure of crimes; providing assistance to citizens and their collective entities in the field of protection of rights, freedoms, as well as legally stipulated interests.

At the present stage in Russia, the administrative activity of the police, regulated by a system of regulatory legal acts (the Federal Law "On Police", the Decree of the President of the Russian Federation, within the framework of which the Regulation on the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation, the Model Regulation on the territorial body of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation for the subject of the Russian Federation ^[25]), is such an executive and administrative functional (managerial activity, an integral part of the activities of all law enforcement agencies of the Russian Federation), which is mediated by the organization of professional work of the entire system of structural units, as well as police services, and the practical implementation of the assigned powers, functions (through appropriate administrative and legal means, methods operating in the field of public order protection, personal security and counteraction various phenomena of crime) ^{[26, p.8]}.

In accordance with paragraph 4 of Article 12 of Federal Law No. 3-FZ, within the framework of administrative activities, the duties of the police include the general promotion of legal knowledge; identification of the causes, conditions of crimes, as well as taking measures to eliminate them; detection of persons intending to commit an act; prevention of unlawful encroachments (offenses and crimes), including encroachments carried out by minors; combating the phenomena of neglect.  In general, carrying out administrative activities, the police are called upon to provide assistance to any person in need of protection from illegal manifestations, to provide assistance to other authorities, organizations, associations, persons.

The administrative activities of the police are carried out in accordance with the following principles (basic principles): observance, as well as respect for the interests provided for by the regulations, of the rights and freedoms of the individual; the principles of legality and impartiality, openness and publicity; the principle of public trust, as well as support for Russian citizens; interaction with other law enforcement agencies, including international ones, as well as with various state and municipal departments, associations of citizens; application in the implementation of their recognition of achievements of modern science, technology, innovative technologies and information systems ^{[27, pp.175-179]}.

The administrative activity of the police in modern Russia, respectively, is the most important direction of the state executive and administrative activity of the state power, which occupies a leading place in the field of law enforcement, as well as public and personal security in general. According to Yu. N. Demidov, M. V. Kostennikov. A.V. Kurakin, the administrative activities of these bodies are executive and administrative professional activities designed to organize the law enforcement sphere of the entire system of subordinate services and units, national police officers, as well as to the practical implementation of ensuring the protection of public order, public safety, combating crime by various administrative-legal mechanisms (methods, methods, forms) ^{[28, p.15]}. As noted by V. Ya. Kikotya, this professional activity is an independent type of law enforcement activity of the internal affairs bodies (police), characterized by a special authoritative executive and administrative property, as well as the implementation within the framework of the assigned functionality, firstly, external administrative and procedural and, secondly, administrative and jurisdictional powers, thirdly, in the implementation of intra-organizational activities to ensure the effective and accurate functioning of all structural units ^{[29, p.24]}.

Thus, it is possible to differentiate the functions of police bodies within the framework of administrative activities into intra-organizational, administrative-jurisdictional and external ones. The internal organizational functions of this law enforcement agency are aimed at ensuring the normal and effective functioning of various services, police units, as well as officials, to use necessary and possible legal and technical, other forces and means within the framework of the implementation of the assigned professional powers. The external functions of the police are mediated by the practical implementation of the main tasks of these law enforcement agencies that are not part of the system of intra-organizational activities (these are general, special, as well as supporting functions).

Thus, the main general functions of the administrative activities of the police include: firstly, forecasting; secondly, planning; thirdly, organization; fourth, regulation; fifth, accounting; sixth, control. The system of supporting functions of the named activity should include several mutually dependent types of it: these are personnel, financial, material and technical support, as well as psychological and medical support, and others. To the special functions of the administrative activity of the police, which may be recognized as the main ones, reflected in Part 1 of Article 2 of the Federal Law "On Police". the legislator includes ensuring the protection of the individual, society, and the state from unlawful encroachments; the prevention and suppression, detection and disclosure of crimes, prevention and suppression of administrative offenses, the implementation of criminal procedural powers (the conduct of inquiry and preliminary investigation in criminal cases, proceedings on administrative offenses), law enforcement and traffic safety on the roads, a number of other important special functions.

It seems important to note: the development of public relations, the emergence of new criminal threats contributes to the genesis of the foundations of legal regulation of the administrative activities of the Russian police, to the solution of existing problems, to the system of particularly significant of which it is advisable to include both issues of jurisdictional and permissive administrative activities, as well as activities that are control and supervisory.

It is generally recognized that the most significant problem remains mediated by the need to improve the administrative activities of the police, due to the prevention of juvenile delinquency, manifested in the criminal infection of society, transmitted to future generations as a social "negative legacy" ^{[30, p.53]} (in 2021, 31.9 thousand acts of minors were detected ^[31]).

Significant problems are associated with administrative activities to combat cybercrime, which contributes to dangerous phenomena. This issue is relevant in the context of the unsatisfactory state of world and national information security, the massive nature of the destructive impact on the individual in the context of increased crime in cyberspace, including on the personality of a minor (the phenomena of cyberbullying, sexting, grooming, trolling, etc., contributing to suicide).

Thus, according to Rosstat, in 2017, the frequency of suicide of minors (10-14 years old) was 1.6 per 100,000 persons, which is 2 times higher than the global average; in the age group of 15-19 years - 8.4 per 100,000 persons (13.5% higher than the world level). In 2018, the number of suicides of minors was 788. In 2019, every 12th minor (13-17 years old) tried to commit suicide ^[32].  This dangerous trend was also demonstrated in Russia in 2020, 2021. According to the data presented in 2021, 3064 suicide attempts and completed similar acts among minors were registered in the first half of 2021 (43% higher compared to 2020 (2146)). At the same time, the growth of these life-threatening phenomena for minors is due to the propaganda of suicide on the Internet ^[33].

 The situation is complicated by the imperfection of the legal regulation of the administrative activities of the police in the designated area, i.e. the issue of finding more optimal ways to counteract these phenomena, developing both in the national and in the world, has not been resolved in Russia ^[34].

It seems that, in order to solve these dangerous problems for Russian society, it is advisable to improve the administrative activities of the police by including:

- In the Order of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia dated January 17, 2006 No. 19 "On the activities of internal affairs bodies for the prevention of crimes" ^[35] a separate section "Prevention of crimes committed using information and telecommunication technologies, including the Internet";

- in the Instruction on the organization of the activities of the juvenile affairs units of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia, approved by the Order of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia dated October 15, 2013 No. 845 ^[36], a separate section "Prevention of crimes committed using information and telecommunication technologies, including the Internet of minors".

We share the position of E. V. Kuznetsova, on the basis of which the information space at the present stage, including the Internet, is an anonymous and global and rather uncontrolled system by the state and its bodies, which is not characterized by clear boundaries, is formed through devices, gadgets, while in some cases it generates crime, contributes to the formation of illegal behavior, which requires the influence of authorized persons ^[37].

Of particular concern are the problems that exist in connection with the administrative activities of the police, caused by countering the phenomena of corruption, the result of which is the weakening of ethical standards in society ^{[38, p.168]}. Taking into account that the counteraction to these manifestations is implemented by a system of various entities: these are judicial bodies, prosecutor's offices, Interior Ministry bodies (GUEBiPK - the Main Directorate of Economic Security and Anti-Corruption, EbiPK - the economic security and Anti-Corruption unit of the territorial body of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia at the regional level), the FSB, the Investigative Committee, the Federal Customs Service, the bodies of the Federal Penitentiary Service and divisions of the Rosgvardiya, the main activities in the field of combating corruption, in general, and the prevention of this negative phenomenon, in particular, are implemented within the framework of administrative activities by employees of the Economic Security and Anti-Corruption Service, which is part of the system of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia.

So, in 2021, the Russian police revealed the following number of corruption crimes: more than 2.5 thousand facts of receiving a bribe (the amount is 1.1 billion rubles), of which 768 acts were committed on a large scale, as well as on a particularly large scale, about 2.4 thousand episodes of bribery (685 million rubles) were suppressed, of which 407 cases - on a large and especially large scale (607 million rubles) ^[39].

The relevance of these problems, the need to improve the administrative activities of the police in the direction of countering corruption phenomena are evidenced by:

- firstly, the position of the President of the Russian Federation V. V. Putin, who pointed out at an expanded meeting of the Board of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia in February 2022 the need for increased attention to the issues of combating corruption crimes;

-secondly, the state strategic program documents (the Strategy of Economic Security of Russia for the period up to 2030 ^[40], the National Anti-Corruption Plan adopted for the period 2021-2024 ^[41])

- thirdly, statistical data (according to 2018 data, the number of corruption acts increased by 2.9% compared to 2017 (30,495 crimes, the proportion is 1.5%), in 2019 statistics indicate the commission of 30,991 crimes (an increase of 1.6%) (the proportion is -1.5%); according to according to the data for 2021, 35,000 such crimes were registered (13.8% more than in 2020), in the system of which more than half are crimes mediated by acts of bribery (18.6 thousand), the growth of which is 25%) ^[42]

We believe that the improvement of the administrative activities of the Russian police aimed at countering the phenomena of corruption should be carried out in the following areas:

- development and implementation of new anti-corruption, including information, digital technologies designed to effectively combat corruption phenomena, both in the police and the police;

- improvement of the system of specific measures implemented by police officers and aimed at preventing corruption (in a separate Order of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia ^[43]).

In the course of professional activity, the police, accordingly, performs a significant number of functions within the framework of administrative activities, during the implementation of which, in accordance with the competence, enters into special legal relations with citizens, as well as state, public organizations and officials. The nature of administrative powers, at the same time, is determined by the list of the main areas of police activity provided for by Federal Law No. 3-FZ "On Police". Meanwhile, it is justified: further progressive development of these relations should be implemented, both through new legislative and organizational measures aimed at leveling them, which will improve the administrative activities of the police in Russia.