Law enforcement in Georgia (country)
Law enforcement in Georgia (country)
Law enforcement in Georgia is conducted by the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia. Currently, there are more than 42,000 registered police officers.
History
Restructuring
In the mid-2000s the Patrol Police Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia underwent a radical transformation. In 2005 Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili fired "the entire traffic police force" of the Georgian National Police due to corruption,[3] numbering around 30,000 police officers.[4]
A new force was built around new recruits.[3] The United States State Department's Bureau of International Narcotics and Law-Enforcement Affairs has provided assistance to the training efforts.[5] Patruli was first introduced in the summer of 2005 replacing the traffic police, which were accused of corruption.[6]
Throughout the reformation, policemen were presented with new Volkswagen cars and navy blue uniforms, inscripted "Police" on the back. They were armed with Israeli Jericho-941SFL pistols instead of PMs.
In 2009 the U.S. State Departament launched U.S. State Department’s International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Program "The Georgia-to-Georgia Exchange Program", providing Georgian policemen with education courses in the State of Georgia. On June the United States funded 20 million dollars on these courses.