Investigation secrets from Vladimir Nikeshkin
Officials of the Udmurtia Investigations Directorate celebrated 5th anniversary of their service with excellent results. Over this time they have solved more than 1,200 crimes, isolated more than 400 rapists, including 57 pedophiles. Percentage of such crimes solved has been 90% over the past few years and remains higher than average percentage across Russia. 276 officials, bribe-takers and plunderers who confuse their own pockets with those owned by the state, who do not fulfill their duties or think that they are a kind of petty monarchs often using deputy immunity have been sent to prisoner’s box.
We talked to Chief of the Udmurt Republic Investigations Directorate of SKR, Vladimir Nikeshkin, about priorities in work, women-murderers and favorite movies.
They will answer for everything
Mr Nikeshkin, new categories of crimes go on getting under your line of authority. Has the Investigative Committee created five years ago proved sound?
Both the Investigative Committee and Udmurt Republic Investigations Directorate have proved that they are able to solve the tasks set before them. This year our investigators have initiated more than 1,100 criminal cases, 700 of them have already been investigated. Today we are leaders in fighting serious and especially serious crimes and organized crimes. Battle against corruption, whatever level of authority it concerns, has been and will be our priority. This year alone we have cited 11 persons with special legal status, including 6 deputies. More than 400 million rubles has been returned to the state budget over these 5 years of investigating corruption, economic and tax crimes.
All tax crimes have been in our competence since 2011, and since this January – cases over serious crimes committed against minors or by minors. Such work is not for indifferent people. This year we have sent to court 103 cases where victims were children and 80 cases against teenagers. And over 5 years we have investigated 364 cases over crimes against children. Each year we face misdeeds that could have been avoided, physical and mental health of children could have been saved, if only bodies of education, public health and social provision were not indifferent and sometimes outright reluctant to solve children’s problems.
How could they allow working at school a certain Mr B., who during a long period of time including the time he worked at school had been suffering from pedophilia? Negligent attitude to recruitment demonstrated by headmaster of the school and superior bodies of education ended up by the fact that seven school children became victims of sexual harassment. We investigate similar cases each year, but of course we take precautions, but unfortunately only post factum.
Do rumors that all investigating activity is going to be given to the Investigative Committee have any real development?
Yes, in the near future we are expecting to merge with law enforcement investigating bodies and united Investigative Committee will appear. From the one hand, the Committee is strong enough, it has matured, so to speak. From the other hand, investigations from all law enforcement bodies are great workload. Here is a simple example: the police forces have 60 thousand people engaged in investigating, but investigating committee will get only 45 thousand people. If a person gets overwhelming workload he stops working at all. We should be careful here.
She and he
Are there more women or men among criminals? Is there any difference in their behavior or motivations?
Overwhelming majority of criminals are of course men, because of natural aggressiveness. For example, in 2012, from 9,200 criminals only 1,200 were women. Among 2,200 criminals who committed serious or especially serious crimes, more than 200 were women. From 400 people convicted for grave injuries, there are 70 women. In addition, from 90 convicted murderers, 8 are women. I wouldn’t make any difference between motives of crimes. Jealousy, personal dislike, alcohol intoxication prevail as motives in both sexes.
Can the tactics, weapon, degree of brutality in both sexes during crimes be compared? They say that women are more ruthless when committing a crime…
There are only single instances. For example, one “hereditary witch” in late 2000s highly ingeniously tried to have her sister killed just because she was “happier”. We managed to prevent the crime jointly with crime detection of the Republican Ministry of Internal Affairs: the “killers” were our employees. We set up a pretty show to convince her that the work had been done. One other woman also tried to have her husband, a policeman, killed just to get insurance.
Brains and innovations
Share, please, the most celebrated cases of 2012.
These are known to everybody, so I will be brief. Preliminary investigation against head of Mozhginsky district, Maksyutin is completed. He is charged with taking a bribe of 1 million 250 thousand rubles. More than 80 witnesses were interrogated, his property was arrested, including apartments in Mozhga and Balashikha of Moscow Region. There was a number of confrontations, phonoscopic, assessment and psychological and psychiatric expert examinations were arranged.
The preliminary investigation is also almost completed over dump of chemical waste in Balezino this spring. According to conservation forensic examination the damage caused to environment equals to 5.2 million rubles and actions of members of a group when handling carbon tetrafluoride led to contamination and poisoning of soil, air and underground waters.
Guilty verdict – 4 years suspended and 350 thousand rubles of fine – was passed over a businessman from Malopurginsky district who had decided to make a profit out of villagers’ misfortune. Malopurginsky district administration concluded with him a contract on restoration of houses affected by the ammunition explosions in Pugachovo. The businessman did not fulfill the work under the contract, but forged documents to receive budget funds. He stole 3.2 million rubles.
The court is trying a criminal case against two operatives of police station No.3 of Izhevsk Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. They secretly stole from service premises more than 3 kg of drugs replacing it by caramel with the purpose of selling.
A drop of blood
As far as we know investigation of crimes committed in previous years is also one of your priorities?
Even if there are no “fresh” crimes we won’t rest until there are unsolved murders, rapists and defilers walking free. Unsolved murders, rapes, other serious and especially serious crimes have become object of our close attention. As a result of joint operations with operative divisions of other law enforcement bodies this year we have established the accused in 45 crimes of previous years and the cases have been forwarded to court. Over 5 years we have solved 80 murders, 30 rapes, and in all about 200 crimes committed in the period between 1992 and 2007.
There is an object group in the criminology department of the investigations directorate consisting of the most experienced and creative investigators. For the last few years they have been analyzing and investigating the cases of previous years.
There is no doubt in experience of your employees, but you won’t get very far without modern technologies, will you? Especially when investigating such cases.
You are right and we try to have some new equipment each year. The main purchase of the last year is a genotype expertise laboratory in the medical forensic bureau. It’s a breakthrough in criminalistics. It was purchased on the funds of the republican budget thanks to the support of Alexander Volkov, Head of the Republic. The laboratory allows 99.9% identification, a mistake is almost impossible. It is especially useful in investigating crimes of past years: rapes and murders. If there are biological traces or fingerprints, the criminal will be punished. Last year we solved a 5-year-old murder this way. Two young people killed an old man and took away a television from the apartment. There were their fingerprints on the television which were then filed into the case. Last year one of the murderers came to get a job in the police where his fingerprints surfaced.
All our employees took voluntary fingerprint analysis three years ago. I think the next step will be genetic registration. And in general I call for all people of our republic to follow our example and submit their fingerprints – nobody knows what might happen.
In addition for several years already we have been using RPVs equipped with video and photo cameras of high definition and heat seekers. We also use a modern cyanoacrylate camera which finds traces on the objects which could not have been examined a couple of years ago.
Do you use hypnosis reproduction of memories of persons who have relevant information? Do really only crystal clear people work in our directorate?
It is quite hard to find such people that is why we have a rather strict selection. We try to recruit our staff through an institute of public assistants. Law students during their studies help investigators on a voluntary basis and later come to work here. Each 20th fail a polygraph test: some of them deal with nonferrous metal scrap, others sold drugs… I remember last year from 6 candidates 5 failed the test. But in any case mine is the final call: you look at them and see that one seems crystal clear from outside, but turns out absolutely rotten inside, the second with insignificant faults due to young age has unspotted conciseness. I have to choose here. This year we have recruited 30 new employees. However, some who have already enrolled do not endure the service psychologically.
We have selection even among the current personnel. This way, last year one investigator, a real pro, got caught on gambling addiction. We have to fire him.
Movies about investigations
Do you watch movies about investigation activity?
From time to time, to distract. But mostly I don’t have time for it. To tell the truth I’m not impressed with such movies. Take for example “Glukhar”. The actors are no doubt good and charming, but what message does it carry? That each policeman is a bribe-taker. This shouldn’t be done. Such movies are harmful, they implant certain psychology to young people. Apparently, commercial success is more important here.
But there are of course movies which can be watched, for example good old “Experts investigate”, “Secrets of investigation”, “Kamenskaya” which more realistically reflect the work of investigators. These days one of the channels show movies based on real criminal cases investigated by the Committee. They approach differently. Only 10% of what you see is a fiction without which the movie is impossible.
Why do you think TV criminal detective stories have such a success among people?
There is a saying: “Four things greater than all things are, - Women and Horses and Power and War”. Detective stories have all this. From the one hand – “war”, that is violence and blood, from the other – there is always a mystery, which the spectators try to make out together with the detectives. These movies make people think, analyze, suggest theories and sympathize with the characters.
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