The Chief of Police of the Republic of Armenia Vahe Ghazaryan never thought about having the opportunity to manage the whole structure. After working in Tavush region for a long time, he left his birthplace, his native home and moved to Yerevan to continue his work here.

Prior to moving to Yerevan, he held a number of positions in the police system from 2003. In 2012-16, he was the Deputy Head of the Ijevan Division of the Tavush Regional Department for Operative Affairs. In 2016-18, he was the Head of the Dilijan Division of the Tavush Regional Police Department. In 2018-19 – Head of Tavush Regional Department.

In an exclusive interview with Iravaban․net , the RA Chief of Police told about his family, his job, problems and desires in the field.

– Mr. Ghazaryan, you were born in Tavush and from 2003 to 2019 you held various positions in the police system in that region. Wasn’t it difficult to leave the place of birth and start working in Yerevan? How did you accept the offer to be appointed Commander of the Police Troops of the Republic of Armenia, Deputy Chief of Police?

– We are servicemen, and we are obliged to fulfill the order. Frankly, being a police commander was alien to me at first. But now we can say that I spent my best years in the police forces. From the very beginning I was able to be accepted, respected and loved in that team.

Justice was my primary principle. I am a person by nature who does not like to talk about what happened before. That’s why we announced a competition for the officer staff, which gave results, even former employees applied.

I love the Tavush world very much, if on any I have time, which is very difficult now, I will definitely go there. My parents and friends are in Tavush.

– What difficulties did you face during the transition to the post of the RA Chief of Police about a year after the post of the Deputy Chief of Police? (Vahe Ghazaryan was appointed Chief of the RA Police by the RA President’s decree of 8 June, 2020).

– It was a serious responsibility. I do not want to talk about my work. It is better for the society to evaluate my work. Coronavirus, war, post-war period, was a very difficult period.

Many policemen took part in the Artsakh war of 2020. Unfortunately, we have casualties, missing persons and wounded people. Do the police, in addition to joint state programs, have long-term and continuous programs aimed at solving the socio-economic, health and other problems of the families of killed and missing police officers and those who have been injured?

– We have missing people, the head of Ashotsk department of Shirak region Armen Ghazaryan. We make every effort to find them.

We try to help the victims’ mothers, children and other family members. Sometimes we help with employment. Even now, after going to every region, I definitely enter at least one house. In Shushi, when a house of culture was hit, I lost friends there.

Deputy Chief of Police Vardan Movsisyan deals with the issue of our employees keeps in touch, calls, talks with family members. We try to stand by them in every way. We have an employee whose son has a very serious injury, his legs and arms are amputated; now we are looking for ways to send him abroad, to help him to have a generation later. There are such problems as well.

We also support the wounded, if they express a wish to continue, we support them. Now the operative control center of the patrol service must be created, we will give preference to the injured policemen to have jobs.

– You have 3 children, a daughter and two sons, does any of them continue your profession?

– I have a hero son, he is a conscript. During the whole war, from the first day to the last day, he took part in military operations, he was in Karvachar. Has grown, his hair grew grey ․․․ He is studying at the Polytechnic, he continues his grandfather’s work, he has a few months left in the service, he says, “I will come, enter a construction company and work.”

My daughter is studying at the medical university; she is already in the post-graduate course. My youngest son is also in school, 9th grade, and he decided to become a programmer.

– If they want to enter the police system, will you mind?

– No, of course not, I will be happy, I will help.

– Doesn’t your wife complain that she sees you less?

– It has been agreed. I worked in the department in Ijevan for 7 years, of which I would have slept at home for a maximum of 3 years, otherwise ․․․ I have such a character that I will not go home until I finish my work. I also told my operative employees that no one would go home until we finished the work. Everything must be on time. I follow strict order.

– There are cases when you go to the scene, how much do you use this practice and what does it give? 

– I have been coordinating for almost 17 years, I have been a police officer, the head of the criminal investigation department, etc., it is in me – to go and see on the spot what happened. I am very impatient in such matters. The scene is very important, the whole crime can be revealed from a small thing, from one detail. You have to be there, and you have to imagine how the culprit did it, and what you would do if you were in his place,.

– How do you assess the public-police connection and trust in the system now? 

– I would like it to be appreciated more by our work. Once this was evaluated by detecting crimes, but now it is evaluated by the external service. I have high hopes for the patrol service. The whole of Yerevan must change with that. The perception of the society will also change.

– Years ago, the angel’s battalion joined the ranks of the police, what was expected from this battalion, that is, high public trust, change of mentality, did not seem to give such a great result. Isn’t there a fear that the patrol service will suffer the same fate?

– Everything depends on the leader. If the leader weakened demands, nothing will happen. The leader should  know everything in order to be able to lead. I’m glad that the old employees are not many, about 30%․ New service with new people. There should be no mistake. Now we have a problem with the election of the leadership, there must be a person who puts everything on his shoulders and can do the job.

– In the police reforms strategy it is mentioned about the attractiveness of the service, training of personnel and professional development. What work is being done in that direction?

– We do not have the police we imagined yet. It takes time to connect the police-society, for trust. Before the war, I wanted to make a proposal not to be conscripted after graduating from the Police Academy. If there is a war, the police troops are the same, the employees leave. If we change the study courses a little, in that direction, I think there will be results.

– Continuing to talk about the public-police system connection, please indicate, in your opinion, the communication, is the communication sufficiently organized? Do you see a problem that even the police reforms are sometimes not sufficiently presented to the public, not everyone is aware of the changes, which creates the impression of a closed police system?

-Definitely. We answer all the inquiries, launched the Police.am website, the police has its own page on the Facebook social network, we regularly organize receptions for citizens, and we prepare organization of new receptions in a few days as well. The police is not a closed system for the citizens either.

– Now it is planned to create a Ministry of Internal Affairs, one of the subordinate bodies of which will be the police. What is your opinion on the draft? Wouldn’t the police appear under the control of the political authorities in this way, taking into account the fact that the post of the Minister of Internal Affairs will become a political post from now on?

– The draft is both good and bad. I am in favor of not to hurry. Of course, if something does not happen in favor of the police, we say why did it happened that way, it did not happen that way, and so on. Experience shows that practice and law are completely different; it must be applied to understand how effective it was.

As for politicization, is the Ministry of Defense politicized now? There is the Ministry of Defense and there is the General Staff. We can draw a parallel․ Now it will be the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Police.

– Mr. Ghazaryan, what is the significance of the salary in the issue of expecting a quality service? Do you think that the RA policeman now receives a sufficient salary? It was actively spread in the press that the salaries of the policemen are increasing by almost 100%. 

– Of course it matters and it is very important! As for salaries, let me say that the increase only applies to patrol service employees.

Good conditions have been created for the employees. Our job is to prevent and reveal crimes. If a police officer discovers a case, especially a serious, particularly difficult case, he is encouraged. He can reveal 4-5 cases in a month and receive about 2 million drams. This is a reward for good work. A person works and earns well without any corruption.

– In our conversation, the re-equipment of the regional departments is running like a red thread. Do we have a problem in this regard?

– We do not have a fuel problem now. The policeman will not have a problem with transport in the regions. Each department will have from 4 to 5 operative official vehicles.

The workload of one day in Yerevan can be equal to one week of workload in the region, for example Gegharkunik. Armavir, Kotayk and Ararat are among the congested regions.

I have always mentioned that the Central Apparatus of the Police should be by the side of the departments in any issue. We have sent about 50 cars from the Apparatus to the regions. It is a great encouragement for the staff, support at work.

One must know the system, enter the status of operative officers, and understand what is needed. I felt all that on my skin. A person must put effort into his work in order to achieve results. Now we are talking about the Ministry of Interior. The minister can be very educated, well-mannered, he wants to carry out reforms, but he does not know the system well.

– Recently, especially in Yerevan, a large number of police forces were observed, for example during the movement of the Prime Minister. According to some experts, this gives the impression that the police are interfering in the political process. How would you comment on this?

– When the opposition was the government, then we did everything so that there were no conflicts, the same is now. It does not matter who the Prime Minister is, Nikol Pashinyan or another perso. We do everything so that there is no clash, no conflict.

For example, do you know how tense we were in Yerablur? If suddenly something serious happened, there was a clash? They threw stones and lighters. If something happened, if a drop of blood flowed, we would be ashamed all over the world. Everyone must be vigilant and be correct.

From 10 November until today, every day about 600-700 people from the police are engaged in internal political processes, because actions, protests, marches are held. It was a great thing that no extreme steps were taken, not a drop of blood was shed.

Our primary task is to maintain public order and that’s it.

I am not in favor of the system changing frequently, falling into shocks. There has been no political persecution in the police, we have not fired anyone. There are people from all fields, one is the brother, one is the sister, the father and etc. I said we do not interfere in politics; we leave Facebook and do business.

– We do not notice you on social networks, are you against?

– Even during the war, the social networks had their “guilt”. And in general, fakes, hatred, comments. They do not like me and/or my work, let them slander my work, tell me something, but not to my family. They wrote that there is an intention to give my son the title of hero ․․․ It was very offensive to me. They write a lot of false news. I want everyone to answer before their conscience first.

– There will be elections soon, what steps are you taking in this direction?

– We want to invite the political forces, it does not matter, whether the leader or another representative will come, but we want to hold a meeting, to agree that nothing will happen during the campaigns, everything will go smoothly. If the leader of a political force wants to go to a region, they should be no hindrance, we must exclude such cases.

Now we have good relations with the Artsakh Police, our Prosecutor’s Office, the Human Rights Defender, and the Investigative Committee. I also have good relations with our former police chiefs, Vladimir Gasparyan, Valeri Osipyan, Arman Sargsyan, Alik Sargsyan. I have a lot of phone calls, I accept good advice, experience is very important to him.

When I was still the head of the Dilijan department, during the previous government, I was offered to become the head of the Tavush regional department, but I never imagined that I would become the Chief of Police.

For me, my shoulder straps, my name, my respect, my honor are very important.

– Let’s talk about the problems of the society. Thefts of statues or their parts have recently increased. What active steps are being taken by the police to reveal them?

– We are aware of them. We think we will revel soon. Now the theft of license plates of the cars is also a serious problem. Especially “gold” license plates are stolen, and then they demand money to return them. You know that the number plate cannot be simply restored. Maybe a legislative change is needed.

– Is it expensive to have a good police?

– Yes. Now cybercrimes are taking place, for the detection of which expert specialists are needed. The police must always be one step ahead, now it happens that they are one step ahead, they make online loans, make sales, etc. Specialists are needed to prevent all that. We must be ready for all challenges, both technically and professionally.

– You personally, as a person with many years of experience in the police system, which you would like to change first.

– An increase in salaries. Our policemen are really suffering a lot.

Our country needs stability. I love my country very much and I cannot imagine living anywhere else.

Alisa Chilingaryan

Photos by Vahe Vardanyan