IDB: bribery in the ranks of Latvian road police is an irregular occurrence

According to the Internal Security Bureau (IDB), since road traffic monitoring is carried out by reactive police officers of Latvian State Police (VP), who generally have a broader competence to respond to events of various nature, including events in road traffic, the number of corruption cases within road traffic police monitoring is of an irregular nature.

According to IDB, this year, for example, the bureau requested criminal prosecution of one State Police officer for extortion and acceptance of a bribe, as well as three private persons for bribery and one private person – for supporting bribery. LETA previously reported that a police officer, while performing his duties in the field of traffic monitoring, stopped motorcycle drivers for exceeding the speed limit. The policeman, unable to determine the speed of each motorcycle driver, misled them about the imposition of a penalty.

The policeman extorted and accepted a bribe of EUR 2 500 from the three motorcycle drivers so that the persons would not be punished in accordance with the procedure established by law.

At the same time, IDB found evidence that a quarter of motorcycle drivers supported bribery in a group.

Acting Chief of IDB Igors Jaunrodziņš told LETA that in general, the public expression of the leadership of State Police is focused on cooperation with the IDB in taking measures to eradicate such criminal offences.

Achieving the goal of minimizing the number of bribery cases related to road traffic monitoring requires not only an effective and strong internal control system, but also the honest attitude and ability of each official to take responsibility.

Assessing the performance indicators of nine months of 2024, 42% of the criminal proceedings investigated by the IDB and sent for the initiation of criminal prosecution are for offences in the service of state institutions. Of these, 50% are for abuse of office.

The IDB actively carries out preventive work to reduce criminal offences and identify the causes that contribute to them in the institutions subordinated to the Ministry of the Interior, including in response to the measures taken by the institutions in the field of prevention of illegal actions, said Jaunrodziņš.

At the same time, IDB emphasized that the function of road traffic monitoring is currently also carried out by the municipal police. The competence of the IDB is limited to the investigation, detection and prevention of crimes related to violence committed by municipal police officers in the performance of their official duties.