Specialists of the Research Laboratory on Crime Enforcement of Kharkiv National University of Internal Affairs (Head and Deputy Head of the Research Laboratory Kostiantyn Buhaichuk and Oleksii Serdiuk) together with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime Regional Programme for Eastern Europe (UNODC) have developed methodological guidelines “Organization of the Activities of the Units of the National Police of Ukraine for Interaction with Communities when Informing Representatives of Groups at Increased Risk about Infection with the Human Immunodeficiency Virus”. This document is developed for the police officers, who while performing their duties, interact with at-risk and drug-using people or their environment.
Among the problematic issues that these guidelines are devoted to, the central one is to increase the effectiveness of measures to prevent the use of psychoactive drugs, reduce the number of crimes committed by drug users by creating mechanisms for informing citizens at risk about the services of institutions providing preventive, curative, rehabilitative and other services in the community, by police officers. Such activity is a determining factor in the reorientation of drug policy from a criminal-penal bias to the priority of the implementation of measures to reduce illegal demand.
The recommendations explain the relevance of preventive measures realization, issues of coordination of police cooperation with communities, organization of thematic education of police officers, issues of HIV prevention among groups at increased risk of infection, including HIV prevention among police officers, issues of assessment of activity on informing risk groups and reporting on HIV prevention were considered.
The recommendation includes an algorithm for police officer actions to inform at-risk groups and a method for rapid screening of drug or psychoactive substance use.
This development is a continuation of the cooperation between Kharkiv National University of Internal Affairs, Personnel Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, Department on Combating Drug-Related Crimes of the National Police of Ukraine and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime Regional Programme for Eastern Europe on issues related to combating drug trafficking, scientific and legislative support of this process.
