Abstract: The research subject is a discredit to internal affairs agencies as a negative social phenomenon threatening both the positive image of internal affairs bodies as a whole, and the honour, dignity and reputation of their particular employees. The research methodology is based on the dialectical approach to the problem under consideration, together with general scientific (formalization, analysis, modeling, and the empirical-inductive method) and theoretical methods of modern social sciences and the humanities (the structural-functional and the systems methods). The empirical part of the research is based on the quantitative and qualitative methods of sociology: the method of focus-groups, the method of narrative interviewing, and the method of sociological questioning which helps to trace back the influence of discrediting on the formation of professional awareness of internal affairs officers. The research helps to identify the most common forms of discrediting of internal affairs officers by citizens and the main mechanisms hampering effective counteraction to discrediting actions of people, and to establish the cause-and-effect relation between discrediting as a negative socio-legal phenomenon and the peculiarities of formation of professional awareness of internal affairs officers. The author concludes that in case if internal affairs officers are lenient with discrediting, their professional awareness becomes deformed which results in the unwillingness to perform their duties properly, the sensation of the absence of the prestige of the profession in the public eye, the prospects of career growth, and the formation of negative attitude towards citizens. 
 

Abstract: The research subject is the peculiarities of formation and manifestation of communication skills of police officers in the digitized environment. The research methodology is based on general scientific methods (formalization, synthesis, generalization of theoretical information on the research issues, and the empirical deductive method), and theoretical methods of the modern social sciences and the humanities. Using the sociological method of questioning, the authors establish the main problems of formation of communication skills of police officers in the digitized environment, analyze the officers’ ideas about prohibitions and restrictions in the digitized environment determined by their professional activities, and detect the weak points of professional training which can damage the image of the internal affairs agencies if ignored. The research helps to reveal several problems connected with communication skills of police officers in the digitized environment. Firstly, it is the absence of normative regulation of the term “communication skills of civil servants” which causes the polyphony in the interpretation of this term. Secondly, it is the absence of formalized requirements to the behavior of police officers in the digitized environment. There are no rules of behavior of police officers on the Internet and in social networks per se, therefore there’s no formal responsibility for their violation. The authors also detect the drawbacks of the professional training and retraining of police officers. The first significant indicator is the fact that most police officers know neither the legislative requirements to digital behavior, nor the current statutory instruments regulating the police officers’ behavior. All these facts prove the necessity to improve the current system of police officers professional training and retraining.