Georgia

AuthorJoseph Serio
Pages414-422

Page 414

Official country name: Georgia (Sak'art'velo)

Capital: Tbilisi

Geographic description: Borders Armenia, Azerbaijan, Russia, Turkey, and the Black Sea and controls much of the Caucasus Mountains and the routes through them

Population: 4,677,401 (est. 2005)

Georgia
LAW ENFORCEMENT
History

On November 7, 1917, the Bolshevik Party staged a coup in Russia and established Soviet power. The leading political parties of the Transcaucasus refused to recognize the new power and on November 17 set up a local administration: the Transcaucasian Commissariat. Soon the Transcaucasian Federation was established, but it was short lived. On May 26, 1918, the National Council of Georgia declared Georgia's independence.

On May 7, 1920, Soviet Russia and Georgia signed a treaty according to which Russia recognized the independence and sovereignty of the Georgian Democratic Republic. What seemed a new dawn for Georgia was fleeting. After the Sovietization of Azerbaijan and Armenia in February 1921, the Bolshevik armies invaded Georgia. The forces were unequal and on February 25, 1921, units of the Red Army entered the capital, Tbilisi.

Under Communist hegemony, the beleaguered nation once again became the realm of foreign power. In 1924, after an attempted uprising led by Georgian Mensheviks, more than 5,000 Georgians were executed. Although Joseph Stalin and his chief of secret police, Lavrenty Beria, were both Georgians, the Georgian people were given no reprieve under their oppressive regime. Georgia had to pass through the ordeal of industrialization and collectivization, suffering severely during the depressions of the 1930s. During World War II 300,000 Georgian soldiers were killed.

In 1990 multiparty elections were held and, on the April 9, 1991, the legislature declared the independence of Georgia. On the wave of anticommunist sentiments, the dissident, Zviad Gamsakhurdia, was elected president. However, he was unable to rule the country at that crucial juncture. Although earlier a victim of totalitarianism, as president he tried to build a totalitarian regime. His unpredictable international policy almost completely isolated Georgia.

In the winter of 1991–1992 a military rebellion by the opposition forced Gamsakhurdia to leave Georgia. Unable to cope with many international, economic, and other domestic problems, the State Council invited

Page 415

Eduard Shevardnadze, the former secretary of the Georgia Communist Party and former Soviet Foreign Minister, to Georgia. Shevardnadze obtained the overwhelming majority of votes in the elections that followed in October 1992 and was confirmed as chairman of the Parliament of the Republic of Georgia. On August 24, 1995, a new constitution was adopted and three months later, after presidential elections were held, Shevardnadze was installed as the president of Georgia.

In November 2003 Georgia held parliamentary elections that were denounced by local and international observers as being grossly rigged. Candidate Mikhail Saakashvili claimed that he had won the elections (a claim supported by independent exit polls) and urged Georgians to demonstrate against Shevardnadze's government and engage in nonviolent civil disobedience against the authorities.

Massive political demonstrations (the so-called Rose Revolution) were held in Tbilisi between November 20 and November 23, with over 100,000 people participating and listening to speeches by Saakashvili and other opposition figures. After an increasingly tense two weeks of demonstrations, Shevardnadze bowed to the inevitable and resigned as president on November 23.

On January 4, 2004, Saakashvili won the presidential election in Georgia with more than 96 percent of the vote. He ran on a platform of opposing corruption and improving pay and pensions. He has promised to improve relations with the outside world.

Structure and Organization

The Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) and the Prosecutor General's Office have primary responsibility for law enforcement. The MIA controls both the police and the Internal Troops, which have heavy weapons and are responsible for maintaining domestic order in cases of emergency. The police are divided into functional departments, such as Criminal Investigation, Traffic Police, and others corresponding to their responsibility. In addition, it has been responsible for issuance of passports and visas as well as running fire departments and prisons. The Ministry of State Security plays a significant role in internal security. In times of internal disorder, the government may call on the MIA or the military.

In 2002 the MIA created a seven-person unit to specifically combat trafficking. The unit received support from the American Bar Association's Central and Eastern European Law Initiative, the International Organization for Migration, and other organizations. Local nongovernmental organizations worked closely with the public defender's office, the body primarily responsible for referring victims to prosecuting authorities.

Information on policing in that part of the world is particularly difficult to access, and Georgia is no different. According to the MIA, Georgia had approximately 30,000 officials from various departments, including 6,400 Internal Troops, 1,850 police academy personnel (1,360 students), and 665 in the passport and visa department. There were 1,749 civilians among the police, besides 14,592 officers and 12,863 privates. A separate police protection department, with 9,700 officers and an independent budget and source of income, provides security and protection of private businesses. This estimate of 30,000 officials apparently includes various departments, such as fire and emergency units, which do not serve a policing function.

While nongovernmental organizations cite the figure as closer to 35,000, others estimate it to be 80,000, and some go as high as 200,000. Another MIA figure said that the number of police officers in 2000 was slightly less than 14,000.

Regardless of the size of the police force, there is little doubt that it is an organization in the throes of major change. In March 2004 200 high-ranking officers in the MIA were essentially dismissed on orders from the minister. Most of these were heads of regional and district units. It may be that these officials were implicated in corruption and bribe taking or simply part of the endless political shuffles in the MIA. The following month the MIA announced that it would be totally restructured, a number of services would be abolished, and police would be equipped with modern technology. The police would be demilitarized, losing armored vehicles such as tanks and armored personnel carriers. In its place, a gendarmerie is to be created. In June 2004 the Ministry of Interior announced that it was forming the "universal police patrol" that will perform the functions of investigators, road and environmental police, and firefighters. It was described as a "Westerntype unit" and was operational by the end of 2004. According to officials, 130 "high-class" vehicles were ordered to equip the new unit.

The Georgian armed forces are responsible for defending the nation's borders against attack, but daily monitoring and controlling the borders is the responsibility of the State Department of the State Border Guards. As of 2005 it was an independent governmental structure. Consisting of 5,500 personnel, the Border Guards is now responsible for all of Georgia's land borders and its seacoast. At present, however, many of these borders are not secure because of separatist movements in several parts of the country.

Key objectives of the Border Guards are to prevent the illegal smuggling of drugs, weapons, or sensitive materials (such as nuclear fissile material across

Page 416

Georgia's borders), prevent the illegal movement of migrant populations or terrorists into or through Georgia, and protect Georgia's economic well-being by enforcing customs regulations.

The government of Georgia places special emphasis on ensuring that the oil pipelines and other vital economic assets in the country remain secure. Primary responsibility for protecting the pipeline rests with the President's Special Protective Service, but the armed forces play a role as well. In April 1999 Georgia hosted a multinational military exercise in which its forces trained with units from Azerbaijan and Ukraine in tactics and techniques for defending the pipelines.

Police at Work

The possibilities for success in policing Georgia are seriously hampered by extremely low salaries and the inability of the government to pay them without interruption. In 2003 the state minimum wage was $10.80 (20 lari) a month. There was no state-mandated minimum wage for private-sector workers. Generally speaking, the minimum wage was not sufficient to provide a decent standard of living for a worker and family. Police salaries begin at about $100 per month (200 lari).

One source of frustration for police officers is the government's inability to pay salaries in a predictable manner; delays can be days, weeks, or even months. As in many other sectors of society, police officers frequently engage in a wide variety of activities to supplement...

To continue reading

Request your trial

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT