Ukraine's police chief: Involvement in mobilisation undermines public trust

Ukraine’s National Police Chief Ivan Vyhivskyi has stated that the involvement of police in mobilisation processes negatively affects public perception and undermines trust built over many years, while this is not their primary function.

In an interview with RBC-Ukraine, he said the issue is not a reluctance to carry out such tasks, but rather their impact on the agency’s reputation, Caliber.Az reports.

“The question is not even whether we want to do it or not. There should be no double standards,” he noted.

Vyhivskyi asked a rhetorical question, saying how can the police be assessed in terms of public trust after participating in mobilisation activities.

“I don’t understand it. We are ready to perform this function, we are performing it, but we should not be part of this process ourselves. This function has historically been carried out by the Territorial Centre of Recruitment (TRC),” Vyhivskyi added.

He made it clear that participation in mobilisation places an additional burden on the police, which should focus on core law enforcement duties.

“But this is not our main job, and everyone forgets, when they again say that we must be maximally involved in mobilisation, that we still have a lot of other functions. No one has taken away our law enforcement role; this is all additional workload,” he explained.

Vyhovskyi also warned that involvement in mobilisation is damaging the police’s public image.

“That is why I say this is negative for us and very harmful to our image. Since 2015, we have been building the police’s reputation and public trust, which is now simply being destroyed,” he emphasised.

Ukraine has periodically seen public debate and controversy over mobilisation processes involving both Territorial Recruitment Centres (TCC, military recruitment offices) and police officers.

By Bakhtiyar Abbasov