The RIA Novosti article contains instructions for when you encounter a situation where a police officer has behaved unlawfully.
Learn the rights and responsibilities of a police officer
Photo - © Nikolay Vinokurov / Lori Photobank
According to Federal Law No. 3-FZ of 02/07/2011 (as amended on 12/28/2024) "On the Police" (as amended and supplemented, entered into force on 02/05/2025), the police are assigned the following duties:
Accept and register (including in electronic form) applications and reports of crimes, administrative offenses, incidents, etc.
Arrive immediately at the scene of a crime, administrative offence, or incident, prevent illegal acts, eliminate threats to the safety of citizens and public safety, and document the circumstances of the crime.
Provide first aid to persons who have suffered from crimes, administrative el salvador mobile database offences and accidents, as well as to persons who are in a helpless state or in a state dangerous to their life and health, if specialized assistance cannot be received by them in a timely manner or is not available.
To identify the causes of crimes and administrative offences and the conditions that contribute to their commission, and to take measures within the limits of their authority to eliminate them.
Ensure the safety of citizens and public order on the streets, squares, stadiums, parks, gardens, transport arteries, train stations, airports, sea and river ports and other public places.
And much more.
How a police officer can behave
Photo - © Nikolay Vinokurov / Lori Photobank
If you are stopped by a police officer, he must in any case inform you of the reason for which he stopped you. He must be polite and tactful, not rude, and address you only as "you". The police officer must introduce himself, state his last name, first name, patronymic, rank, and position. The police officer must also inform you whether he is detaining a citizen or whether this is simply a document check to verify his identity.
There may be several reasons for a police officer to stop a person:
Suppression and prevention of administrative offenses, but only if other measures of interaction cannot be sufficient.
In order to execute the relevant decision on the case of an administrative offence.
In order to eliminate the possibility of opposition to the consideration of cases.
During a superficial inspection, police officers do not have the right to get into your pocket, bag, or hood - they can only ask you to open your bag, look inside your backpack. The most that a police officer is allowed to do during a superficial inspection is to run his hands over your clothes.
Police officers have the right to conduct a document check in several cases, all of which are listed in paragraph 2 of part 1 of article 13 of the Federal Law “On Police” :
documents are checked if there are grounds to suspect a given person of committing a crime (the person has a knife in his hand, there are traces of blood on his clothes, etc.)
if a person resembles a wanted criminal;
in case of an administrative offence – for example, a person crossed the road in an unauthorised place or drank alcohol in a public place.
However, it is important to keep in mind that if you have not violated anything and there are no grounds for detention, then you can show your passport to a police officer so that he can establish your identity and registration at your place of residence.