MOSCOW, April 5 (AVN) - The Russian Interior Ministry believes that the forthcoming railway transport reform should hold crime reduction and public security strengthening as one of its aims, Lieutenant General Nikolai Getman, head of the ministry's main transport police department, said on Thursday.
Getman spoke to sum up results of the working meeting between heads of the Railway Ministry reform department and main departments of the Interior Ministry.
The meeting discussed the railway's 10-year gradual reform plan. Interior Ministry officials stressed that the ministry had three groups of interests related to the forthcoming changes. First, the ministry is concerned over terms of railway police units functioning. Russia currently has 20 transport police departments, including 19 railway police departments. The Railway Ministry backs up many aspects of the police departments' activities. Besides, it finances maintenance of about 7,000 policemen that convoy trains. It is still unclear how those issues will be dealt with when a private company gains control over the railways.
The second group of interests concerns special and military cargo transportation. Many participants of the meeting believe that the restructuring programme does not settle those issues.
The third group is related to crime combating. Transport police registered over 22,000 crimes in the first three months of 2001. Their growth rate is constantly increasing, making about three percent in March. The highest growth rate is in north-western Russia, Southern Urals and Kuzbass region. The Interior Ministry believes that the restructuring plan should contain a set of measures aimed at improving the criminal situation.