11:51,

YEREVAN, APRIL 16, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan offered congratulations to law enforcement officers as Armenia is marking Police Day.

Speaking at the Cabinet meeting, the PM addressed Police Chief Arman Sargsyan, and said: “Mr. Sargsyan, allow me to congratulate you and the entire personnel of the police on this important holiday. Police is one of the most important institutions of maintaining the legal order of any state, just like our state, and the level of human rights protection, democracy, up to the preservation and application of economic and political liberties depends on the quality work of the police. We must admit that in Armenia the relations between the police and the public weren’t simple, they had many difficulties, even crises, and today our biggest objective is to establish complete mutual trust, total trust towards the work of the police. This is a highly important task on our agenda,” Pashinyan said.

He said that the government has been discussing the police reforms strategy for a long time and that it should’ve launched from April 1, but the coronavirus pandemic delayed the plans. He said the agenda of reforms is based on two important cornerstones – the public’s complete confidence in the police and the effectiveness of the police work.

Pashinyan said the police must reform its image, and become the law enforcement agency which is in line with the present-day demands of Armenia, the aspirations that the state and the people bring forward.

After the speech, the Prime Minister and the Cabinet members held a moment of silence in honor of all police officers who fell in the line of duty.

Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan