Shooter "in law"

The incident with the shooting in Minsk on New Year's Eve has opened a new chapter in the annals of the national police.

Kiryl Zhyvalovich, a columnist in Belgazeta, writes about this.

"Transformation of public consciousness has finally been completed: the repeated many times horror story about American cops who allegedly shoot to kill at the first opportunity, has reached an intermediate target – our police officers can now do the same," – the journalist writes.

Less than a month has passed from the moment when the head of the Interior Ministry expressed his resentment caused by the "wave of information intended to compromise the police officers and the law enforcement system as a whole."

"Although then it was just the case about a drunkard in uniform, who was to blame that a woman had died. If you develop a tough logic which came from the ministerial mouth, it appears that in the first night of this year some unidentified conspirators have committed another ominous act intended to slander the honor of those, wearing police uniform," – the journalist interprets the statement made by the Ministry of Internal Affairs about the New Year Eve's shooting of a Minsk dweller.

According to the versions voiced by the Interior Ministry, which have never been notable for diversity or comprehensiveness of answers to the key questions, nothing has happened on the New Year's Eve, that can somehow question the qualification and level of professional skills of the law enforcement officer. Quite typical situation for the festive days: early in the morning there was too much noise from one of Minsk apartments, the neighbors called the police, an employee arrived (whether alone, or there were two of them), the 28-year-old owner of the apartment opened the door.

Further, the quote of the Department of Internal Affairs of the Minsk City Executive Committee: "The citizen, who was in a state of strong alcoholic intoxication, suddenly punched the police officer on the chest, then hit him repeatedly on the head and then tried seize the service weapon." As the result, the police officer (according to the version of the Internal Ministry – after a warning shot) almost point-blank shot at the unarmed man several times and after that – this is quite important – was taken to a hospital with a concussion and other injuries.

"Even assuming that everything has happened like this (and the court will traditionally be based on the version told by the police), it makes us wonder if the police officers are under-trained : a teenager easily beats up a riot policeman in a police van at one time, or oppositionists brush aside three riot policemen at another time, and then a drunk man, having no special skills, demonstrates cartoon fighting effects on a 5 sq.m. stairwell and in the confrontation with a law enforcement officer on service first "kicks him on the chest," and then also performs "a series of blows on his head," – the author of the article wonders.

"Separate troublemakers have hastened to name the incident "the apogee of police lawlessness". From the standpoint of domestic justice, such speakers should be brought to justice – whether for slander, or for insults, or for something else at the discretion of the guardians who are vigilant and will be vigilant. And there's no doubt they will defend the reputation of the uniform vigorously.

It is even possible, that in the course of the New Year's incident investigation, there would appear such details, that the policeman, who has shot the man, would be rewarded for the courage he has shown not in the confrontation with a dangerous recidivist, but in a domestic conflict with pretty drunk citizen," – these words of the journalist have practically been confirmed by the yesterday's reaction of Lukashenka, who has promised to take the investigation of the case against the Minsk dweller, who was wounded by the police officer, under his personal control.

"It's becoming more and more difficult to determine, which side takes the law and whom it protects. People already have very few reasons to be in a good mood and good spirits, and here also more and more cases occur, which heat the overall degree of tension in the society. It is quite natural that such an atmosphere irritates and angers many people, including law abiding citizens, and even police officers themselves. But angry people with service weapons are much more scary than unbalanced pensioners in clinics or rude plebs in stores.

And those who so persistently uses convenient interpretations of the Western patterns of behavior of law enforcement officers, should understand: one essential detail is missing when comparing Belarusian policemen with American policemen – the accessibility of firearms for the citizens of the United States and Belarus. Otherwise, many incidents involving law enforcement officers today would have ended in a completely different way and there would be completely different victims," – the author of the article concludes.