The government once again proposes to expand the powers of the police in terms of the use of contact and remote electroshock devices.
The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine approved the draft Law of Ukraine “On Amendments to Article 45 of the Law of Ukraine “On the National Police of Ukraine” regarding improvement of legal grounds and peculiarities of use of special means” developed by the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine.
This is the second attempt to pass a similar law. The first was in April 2021. At that time, the parliamentarians did not support the initiative of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and did not allow the use of stun guns against Ukrainian citizens.
This time (as in the past), the draft law proposes to add three grounds for the use of electroshock devices, namely:
- during the detention of a person suspected of committing a criminal offense and resisting or trying to escape;
- during the detention of a person who physically resists a police officer;
- during the detention of a person who is trying to escape from custody.
“The expansion of the legal grounds for the use of stun guns by police is due to the fact that this special device, when used in exceptional cases, can significantly reduce the risk of injury to the offender or the onset of a lethal outcome, unlike the use of firearms,” said Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs Bohdan Drapyaty.
