counts on citizens' active assistance in the fight against terrorism and crime. Alexander Chekalin, first deputy interior minister, made a statement to this effect at a joint annual meeting of the National Civil Committee for interaction with law-enforcement, legislative and judicial bodies, the Civil Society (Grazhdanskoye Obshchestvo) autonomous organization, and the Public Recognition (Obshchestvennoye Priznaniye) national foundation held Tuesday.
"We must make a consistent use of all civic institutions, launch an offensive against organized crime, and erect a barrier against terrorism and extremism and other types of crime. Active work is being conducted in this direction and all the available resources are put to use," Mr. Chekalin said.
In his words, the interior ministry has prepared and submitted to the State Duma a draft law "On Citizens' Participation in Maintaining Public Order." On Tuesday, the draft law was discussed by the respective Duma committee.
The Interior Ministry hopes that its legislative initiative will be examined as soon as possible making it possible (should the draft law be adopted) to maintain public order by joint efforts at a more qualitative level, Mr. Chekalin noted.
There are over 37,000 public associations of law-enforcement orientation, 18,000 people's squads and 1,000 Cossack squads operating in Russia now. The total number of voluntary assistants to the police comes close to 328,000 people, the deputy minister said.
"Citizens help to collect information from the population and make a practical contribution to the fight against crime. Since the start of the year, over 16,000 criminals have been arrested with their help; in addition, some 347,000 people have been detained for administrative offenses," Mr. Chekalin pointed out.
Apart from this, he reminded the audience that the Interior Ministry held a visiting session on November 26 with the participation of Russia's interior minister Rashid Nurgaliyev to coordinate joint efforts in combating crime. The session participants discussed a draft comprehensive program of joint action by civil and state institutions aimed at strengthening national and public security.
The state program of all-embracing struggle against terrorism is now acquiring its practical contours; actually, Russia has proclaimed its new offensive stance in the fight against terrorism and other present-day threats and challenges, Mr. Chekalin said in conclusion.
