Today Alexander Bastrykin, Chairman of the Investigative Committee of Russia, delivered a lecture in the Moscow Academy of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation. The topic of the lecture was “Organization of work of investigative bodies of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation”. The lecture was attended by managers and deputy managers of area-based and specialized investigative units of the Committee, investigators, graduate students, masters, and senior students - future graduates.

Alexander Bastrykin specially pointed that daily work of an investigator is to be systematized and should aim at reducing time limits in probe proceeding, improving investigation quality and protecting rights and interests of citizens. “You need to have a clear plan of the procedure to fulfill during stated time limit, including measures that involve using capacity of operational units of Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs and Federal Security Services. The most important part of organizing the work of an investigative unit is to analyze its own work. Such analysis makes it possible to determine most relevant problems, reveal reasons of existing drawbacks and low effectiveness of previously taken measures and to determine particular ways of improvement,” noted the Chairman of the Russian Investigative Committee. The following data is to be subject to this analysis: whether procedures of acceptance of citizen’s requests and reports of crimes, their registration, recording and resolving are conducted in accordance with stated procedures; organizing and planning of preliminary investigation and providing comprehensive, complete and objective investigation of all circumstances of cases; reasons for prosecutors and courts to return probes for further investigation; current status of probes for unsolved cases; etc.

Alexander Bastrykin told how to plan activities taking into account all directions and decisions to make including completion of investigations, revealing reasons and circumstances that contribute to committing of the crimes and taking measures for their elimination. In general, according to Mr Bastrykin, the keystone to successful work is the professionalism of investigators and their direct supervisors, which means not only the knowledge of penal and criminal law and jurisprudence, but also constant self-education and studying of legal framework of other bodies of law.

The Chairman of the Investigative Committee of Russia mentioned the main directions of management improvement in investigative units of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation, speaking about the role of the Council of Managers of Investigative Units of the Investigative Committee, importance of developing forensic capacity through, amongst others, cooperation with foreign partners. Alexander Bastrykin underlined that the Investigative Committee is currently implementing innovative domestic developments.

Different aspects of protecting of the rights of minors became a separate part of the lecture. The Chairman of the Investigative Committee of Russia said, “Our common goal is to continue improving the system of prevention crimes against minor citizens of our country.” In the first half of 2018 alone, investigators of the Investigative Committee had launched over 10,000 probes for crimes against minors, and the total amount of such reported cases rose above 17,000. 5,412 probes were referred to court, which is 1.5% more than last year.

Alexander Bastrykin also talked about participation of staff members of the Investigative Committee in drafting of several child protection laws. Moreover, he pointed out that concerning orphan children and children deprived of parental care, the goal of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation is to make sure that regional budgetary funds provided for building special housing stock for such children reach the planned objectives without any wasting.

Also the Chairman of the Investigative Committee mentioned investigating transport offences, noting that special methodological recommendations for investigating aviation incidents and incidents related to railway and water transport have been prepared using practical experience. These recommendations will help clarify responsibilities of interacting entities during investigation of aviation incidents and incidents related to railway and water transport have been prepared using practical experience.

In conclusion of his lecture, the Chairman of the Investigative Committee underlined the importance of constant professional self-development.

Official representative of the Investigative Committee of Russia                                                  S. Petrenko