Chief of Latvian State Police Armands Ruks stressed during a meeting of Saeima’s Defence, Internal Affairs and Corruption Prevention Committee on Wednesday, the 1st of March, that the absolute majority of law enforcers in the police force are loyal to the country.
Commenting on the publicly voiced concerns about the lack of loyalty among police officers, Ruks said «the devil is not so black as he is painted». Police actively monitor opinions among police officers. Control measures continue as well.
«It is no surprise that there are people of Slavic ethnicity working in the police. Their family traditions may have included participation in events associated with the 9th of May,» said Ruks, adding that there was one case when a police officer left the force, listing as a reason for his decision the existence of «Nazism in senior leadership of State Police».
According to Ruks,
there are only a handful of cases when officers were reprimanded and received disciplinary action
for having photos featuring symbols associated with the 9th of May on their social network accounts. «A person went there to leave flowers once and so on. Some time ago this was acceptable in society and among servicemen,» added the chief of State Police.
Nevertheless, Ruks says he is optimistic about the overall loyalty in State Police, adding that he cannot look into people’s minds.
«I am confident 99.99% of our officers are fine in this regard,»
said Ruks, adding that so far he hasn’t dismissed anyone for signs of support of the aggressor.
Former Minister of the Interior Māris Gulbis, who was a freelance advisor to Sandis Ģirģens, who was Latvia’s Minister of the Interior in 2021, mentioned in an interview to TV24 in April 2022 that there are police officers in the ranks of State Police who are against Ukraine, and that the chief of State Police has issued an order for all police officers who are against Ukraine to voluntarily leave the police force.
State Police respondent to Gulbis’ claims. In a press-release, State Police wrote that once the war in Ukraine started, law enforcers tightened internal control. Topics related to the conflict were discussed with workers regularly. The statement mentioned that there isn’t a single person in Latvia’s police force that support and justify Russia’s war in Ukraine.
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