Prevention and disclosure of thefts and thefts of vehicles: current problems and ways to solve them.

Khamidullin Ruslan Sibagatullovich PhD in Law Head of the Department of Operational Investigative Activities of Internal Affairs Bodies, Ural Law Institute of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia 620072, Russia, Sverdlovskaya oblast', g. Ekaterinburg, ul. Syromolotova, 7, kv. 11 sledgsugu@mail.ru Other publications by this author

Ayukin Timur Karimovich The operative of the group on combating crime, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia in Yekaterinburg 620092, Russia, Sverdlovsk region, Yekaterinburg, Sazhinskaya str., 1, sq. 62 timur.ayukin@gmail.com

One of the problematic areas in the field of prevention and disclosure of property crimes on the territory of the Russian Federation from year to year remains theft and theft of vehicles. Both at the federal level and at the level of territorial divisions of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia, every month, quarterly and year-round, an analysis of registered crimes in the field of theft and unlawful seizure of vehicles, the proportion of crimes solved, the number of those brought to criminal responsibility, as well as the features and characteristics of these crimes relative to the region of commission is carried out. The number of these crimes is increasing every year. In this regard, law enforcement agencies, including the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia, are carrying out multifaceted work to uncover and prevent, reduce the number of thefts and thefts of vehicles. But, despite the whole complex of measures, preventive operations and the involvement of a complex of police forces and means, the detection of this aspect of property crimes is at a fairly low level ^[1]. In this article, we will consider the main causes of this phenomenon, difficulties in solving thefts and carjackings, as well as possible, most applicable development prospects in the conditions of the Ural region.

Let's start with the basics of the criminal-legal characteristics of the considered elements of crimes. Article 158 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (hereinafter referred to as the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) states that theft is the secret theft of someone else's property ^[2]. In our case, the theft of motor vehicles is a qualifying composition, namely, depending on the object of criminal encroachment, the cost of motor vehicles can be qualified either under part 3 (theft committed on a large scale), or under part 4 (theft committed on a particularly large scale) of this article. In rare cases, in case of secret theft of vehicles of domestic production, often from hooligan motives, in the absence of any planned actions, thefts can qualify under part 2 with significant damage to the owner, if the cost of vehicles is small. But, quite often, these crimes are well-planned and thoughtful in nature, committed with the use of modern technical means. The purpose of the attackers in this case is to obtain material values after the disposal (sale, resale) of stolen vehicles. In turn, according to Article 166 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, hijacking is the unlawful taking of a vehicle without the purpose of theft. That is, unlike the theft of motor vehicles, where the goal is to realize the stolen and obtain material benefits, there is no intent of the attacker when stealing this goal.

At the moment, if we take generalized information on the territory of Russia, the average detection rate of thefts and carjackings is 10-15%, which is a fairly low indicator compared to other areas of the property block. In real-time conditions, this type of crime is economically justified from the point of view of intruders, because with a scrupulously thought-out scheme and the availability of technical capabilities, finances and sales channels, this fishery will begin to pay for itself quickly enough.  In other words, in this case, the risk justifies the means, that is, the threat of punishment is quite illusory, and the principle of inevitability of punishment simply does not work, the material benefit prevails regardless of the personality and temperament of the criminal.

So, for example, in the territory of the city of Yekaterinburg, in the operational service area of OP No. 7 of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia in Yekaterinburg, 50 thefts of motor vehicles were registered in 12 months of 2018 (in 2017 – 49), of which 8 were of domestic production, 42 were of foreign production, namely: 6 thefts of Hyundai Solaris, 6 thefts of "Kia Rio", 5 thefts of "Toyota Camry", 3 thefts of "Hyundai ix 35", 3 thefts of "Mazda 6", 1 theft of "Mercedes E221" (committed from 22:45 31.05.17 to 07:40 01.06.17), 3 thefts of "Kia Sportage", 2 thefts of "Mazda 3", 2 thefts of "Nissan Qashqai", 4 thefts of "Mazda CX-5", 1 theft of "Lexus RX 270", 2 thefts of "Toyota RAV 4", failed theft of "Mitsubishi Pajero", 1 theft of "Honda Crosstour", 1 theft of "Nissan X-Trail", 1 theft "Nissan Teana". The detection rate was 3 crimes (the same period last year – 1), in qualitative terms – 5.0% (the same period last year – 2.3%). In the line of illegal seizure of vehicles, a total of 1 was registered in 12 months of 2018 (the same period last year – 6), the detection rate was 1 crime (the same period last year – 6), in qualitative terms – 100% (in 2017 – 100%). In the course of the analysis, it was found that the most stolen vehicles are cars of domestic production of the VAZ brand, among foreign-made vehicles are middle-class cars worth up to 900,000 rubles, Toyota, Hyundai, Mazda brands, mainly thefts occur during the period from 03:00 hours to 05:00 hours from unguarded yard parking lots, cars are equipped with feedback alarms of the brands "Starline", "Scher-khan", as well as regular alarms. But, also, there has been an increase in thefts of Hyundai Solaris cars, which are mostly stolen at night on a regular alarm system.

The main drawbacks in the organization of the disclosure of this category of crimes is the low level of interaction between the services, as well as the lack of proper control by the leadership of the territorial department when solving crimes in hot pursuit. At a low level, measures are taken to detect stolen vehicles, traces of crimes are not seized, witnesses and possible eyewitnesses are not identified. Weak operational positions of employees of operational units in places of possible settling of stolen vehicles, as well as among persons related to illegal car business. The possibilities of the Internet networks are not fully used in the search for stolen vehicles.

From the data provided on the example of the territorial police department, it follows that every year the number of crimes in this area is steadily increasing, the detection rate remains low. In order to overcome this state of affairs and the "turning point" of the situation, concrete actions are needed by employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia, both ordinary and superior, the adoption of new regulations and regulations for the behavior of employees when receiving reports (statements) about thefts and carjackings, daily analysis of crimes committed, tightening criminal liability with compensation for material and moral damage to victims.

On a monthly basis, law enforcement officers take measures to suppress these crimes, discuss issues of interaction with organizations engaged in insurance, sale, purchase, disposal of vehicles, and improve information retrieval databases. But, as in all spheres of activity, there are shortcomings, problems, malfunctions ^[3].

At the moment, the situation with the disclosure of these crimes is directly dependent on the trust of citizens in the entire law enforcement system as a whole.

In Russia, as in all modern countries, the responsibility for the safety of their property is assigned to the owners of this property, this also applies to motor transport ^[4].

The complex of measures aimed at suppressing these crimes should include: improvement of information retrieval databases, addition and tightening of the procedure for registration, re-registration of vehicles for specific categories of citizens and in relation to specific cars, adoption of amendments to the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation on toughening penalties for secret theft of other people's property, namely by qualified personnel, bringing to information about the statistical data of crimes committed, about methods for their prevention, training and retraining of police officers on actions and algorithms in situations where the crime is not obvious, development of methodological recommendations for each specific direction, establishing interaction with the secret apparatus, citizens related to the auto business.

As an innovation, it is possible to create a unified all-Russian information search database containing information about persons who have ever been convicted, prosecuted for theft and theft of vehicles, as well as for the alteration of vehicle identification numbers, forgery of documents for vehicles. The creation of this information system will make it possible to summarize information from different regions of the Russian Federation, including from the Ural region, analyze common features of crimes, identify similar, similar ^[5]. But in turn, when creating and operating this system, do not allow data to "leak" into the circle of intruders, otherwise the information base will lose its relevance and applicability. That is, the creation of this system should be carried out by highly qualified specialists in the field of information, taking into account the secrecy regime in the Department of Internal Affairs.

One of the types of prevention of these crimes is victimological prevention, namely, informing persons who are inclined to become victims of crimes about the need to comply with rules and precautions, as well as identifying persons who are inclined to commit this particular type of crime. Also, mass mailing is possible, informing citizens about the ways of committing thefts and hijackings, about tricks in committing crimes, about technical means used by intruders ^[6].

At the moment, as at the level of the territorial body of the Ministry of Internal Affairs In Russia, and at the level of the subject of the Russian Federation, there is practically no in-depth operational search and intelligence work in the criminal environment, especially among persons of interest in connection with the commission of the crimes in question.

Now let's look at the main methods of theft of vehicles used by intruders, among them are:

1. Breaking the glass and subsequent penetration into the interior of the car. This method is effective in the absence of third-party alarm systems, the location of the car on unguarded and poorly lit areas. The attacker breaks the glass of the car, penetrates into the interior, then, by "folding" (a specially prepared tool made of high-strength metal), turns the larva of the ignition lock in the direction of starting the engine, starts the car and leaves to a pre-prepared place.

2. Reading the alarm opening (closing) code by means of a special signal intercepting device - "code grabber". In this case, the attacker waits for a potential victim near the parking lot, when the owner of the car enters the alarm system into the security mode, the attacker "intercepts" the signal and subsequently reproduces it while near the car, after which he penetrates into it, starting the engine, in the absence of any other security systems, is carried out by turning the ignition lock, or by replacing the engine control unit ("brains") with a pre-prepared one.

3. Mechanical penetration. "Folding" the larva of the door lock and penetration into the interior of the car.

4. "Extension" of the signal of the standard car key with the help of special equipment (Repeater). This method is applied to cars of the prestigious and premium class, for example, "Toyota Land Cruiser 200", "Lexus LX 570", "Lexus NX 300", "Range Rover", "Infinity", equipped mainly with the engine start/stop button and having the function of contactless opening/closing, setting/removing on alarm system. The attackers are waiting for a potential victim at the crime scene, after which one of the attackers follows the owner of the car to his place of residence by turning on a pre-transmitting ("lengthening" signal) repeater. Another attacker, also with a receiving repeater, approaches the car and requests a regular key from an accomplice. The car "sees" the presence of a standard key near the car, and removes the protection, after which the attacker enters the cabin and, by pressing the engine start button, starts the car and leaves.

Also, the theft of cars is possible without the use of special devices, namely, loading the car onto a manipulator, tow truck by intruders and transporting it to a predetermined location, physically moving the car by pushing ^[7].

For more than a year, the first in the ranking of stolen and stolen cars are cars of domestic production - "VAZ". This is primarily due to the high prevalence of these models in Russia. Among the imported models, "Hyundai", "Kia", "Toyota" have gained particular popularity among the attackers, which are stolen for the purpose of parsing for components or sale outside the Russian Federation, namely to the territory of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Ukraine, Belarus.

In modern conditions of countering the criminal element in the line of theft and theft of vehicles, operational police units are significantly inferior in the scale of disclosure and prevention of these crimes. Therefore, it is necessary to take concrete measures in this direction. Based on the above, it is necessary to highlight the main problems in the field of prevention and disclosure of thefts and carjackings in Russia:

1. Weak legal level of police officers directly involved in solving crimes "hot on the trail", lack of practical skills and theoretical aspects in terms of priority allocation.

2. Practically absent behavior of managers over the course of the initial investigative and operational-search activities, lack of control and proper administrative resources, unwillingness to travel to the crime scene responsible from the leadership of territorial police departments, higher-level managers, giving unreasonable (impractical) instructions through third parties, further unsystematic conduct of operational accounting, the assumption of red tape and connivance in the preparation and conduct of specific operational investigative measures on the part of managers.

3. Obviously convenient behavior of potential victims for intruders, savings on means and methods of protecting the car from theft and theft, unwillingness to comply with basic rules of personal safety and vehicle safety.

4. The lack of continuity, the institution of mentoring at the level of territorial divisions of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia, the "turnover" of personnel and, as a result, the inability to resist intruders, both in the information sphere and in the field of interpersonal communication.

5. Weak positions of employees of operational units in the field of persons involved in illegal car business, overbooking of vehicles, alteration of identification numbers and forgery of documents, ignorance of places of possible sale, channels of transportation of stolen cars across the border of the Russian Federation.

6. Insufficient interaction between police units and other law enforcement agencies in the fight against theft and theft of vehicles, non-use of resources of international cooperation through the Interpol National Security Service, almost complete lack of transmission and exchange of information.

7. Humane justice system. A fairly "soft" criminal liability for the commission of these crimes, given that the detained persons who have committed a crime for the first time and have never been convicted, who have 10 or more episodes of theft of vehicles, cooperating with the investigation and causing damage to the victims for more than 1,000,000 rubles, avoid real imprisonment and, in the future, continue to engage in criminal activity. activity.

8. Merging of a part of law enforcement agencies with a criminal element in order to obtain material benefits and abuse of official powers, conceal the crimes committed and the details of what happened.

9. Availability of special means to facilitate the acquisition of vehicles, theft and theft of vehicles, rather low cost and convenience of their use.

10. Information "lag" of law enforcement agencies from the methods and means of intruders, methods of hiding traces of crime, ignorance of sales channels, persons involved in illegal traffic, the use of outdated tools and means to fix traces of crimes, facilitate the disclosure of crimes.

The above-mentioned problems of prevention and disclosure of thefts and thefts of vehicles in the modern system of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia must be solved, and the sooner concrete measures are taken, the less damage will be caused to ordinary citizens.

Currently, in various departments of the internal affairs bodies, work in this area is structured in different ways. In some department there is a whole department for combating theft and theft of motor vehicles, specializing in a specific direction, dealing with operational developments and the disclosure of crimes, the accumulation of information. In another department, less numerous, 1-2 employees are assigned to this direction, either coping with the tasks assigned to them and promptly solving crimes, or not coping with the wave of thefts and thefts, but trying to accumulate and analyze incoming information. In this case, there can be no question of timely confrontation with intruders. In the third department, a priori, there is no special employee assigned to this line, and when reports (statements) about thefts and theft of vehicles are received, employees who are not involved in other activities are involved. In this case, even the accumulation of information is impossible, due to the inconsistency of the actions of employees and the absence of a specific plan ^[8].

Among the duties of employees directly assigned to the line of thefts and thefts of vehicles, the following are distinguished:

- the implementation of initial operational investigative measures at the crime scene, the disclosure of the crime "in hot pursuit".

- support of criminal cases under investigation on the facts of theft and theft of vehicles.

- conducting operational records on the facts of unsolved serious and especially serious crimes.

- suppression, prevention and disclosure of thefts and thefts of vehicles committed on the territory of operational service.

- accumulation, systematization and generalization of incoming operational information.

- working out of persons previously convicted of committing similar crimes who have been released from places of detention.

- checking and testing of places of possible sale of stolen cars, installation of owners.

- maintaining and monitoring records of stolen vehicles, illegal acquisition of vehicles.

- interaction with other units of the law enforcement system, organization and implementation of joint operational and preventive measures.

- analysis of committed crimes, identification of common features and peculiarities.

- organization and conduct of interaction with law enforcement agencies of foreign states through the Interpol National Security Service ^[9].

Also, it should be mentioned that this list is not limited to the specific responsibilities outlined above. The actions of employees of operational units are diverse in various variations of joint investigative and operational-search activities.

Based on all of the above, the operational units of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia have possible positive development trends in the case of solving these tasks and problems, applying and improving new ways and methods of combating crimes in the line of theft and theft of vehicles. Among the prospects for the development of this direction in the current realities, the following important "steps" should be noted on the way to the formation of the prevention and disclosure of this type of crime, namely:

1. Raising the cultural, general legal level of police officers, improving the moral image of a law enforcement officer, introducing and strengthening an information installation in the media, on the radio, in public administration, local self-government bodies, independent independent organizations of citizens, about the authority of law enforcement agencies, their role in preserving the state system of Russia, maintaining order and the "reverse" side police service.

2. Conducting theoretical and practical seminars and lectures on an ongoing basis among police officers at the territorial level who are directly confronted with crime on topics that are currently relevant and of "acute" practical interest.

3. Conducting agitation meetings among the population, namely, most of the potential victims of car criminals, distributing information materials, informing citizens of ways and methods of taking over by intruders of motor vehicles, ways to combat this type of crime.

4. Improving working conditions among active police officers, strengthening the propaganda campaign for admission to the ranks of police officers, increasing the prestige of the service and the real consolidation of the so-called social guarantees and benefits of the service not only in regulatory terms, but also in practice.

5. Creation and strengthening of operational positions of criminal investigation officers in places of concentration of the criminogenic contingent, conducting operational work on the places of sale of stolen cars, identifying persons capable of providing assistance to operational units on a reimbursable and gratuitous basis for providing information, conducting scheduled and unscheduled inspections of places of possible sale of stolen cars (metal acceptance, car centers, service centers, auto spare parts stores).

6. Creation of common plans for interaction between various services and divisions of the Department of Internal Affairs (DPS, PPSP, OUP, PDN, ONTSB of Interpol, GU of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, UMVD), holding general meetings, exchange of information about stolen cars, persons involved in criminal activity, carrying out general operational and preventive measures in conjunction with the operational development of specific directions. In this area of activity, the aforementioned integrated information retrieval database on thefts and theft of motor vehicles, combining various departments and accumulating all incoming information, should play a special role.

7. With regard to the current model of the justice system, it is necessary to modernize it with updating the essence of sentencing and their public danger, amendments to the current Criminal Code of the Russian Federation in terms of tightening responsibility for committing generally dangerous acts that infringe on the right of citizens to personal property, motor vehicles and total material damage caused by the actions of intruders.

8. Improving the levers of influence and elements of influence on future police officers, current police officers, as well as increasing the prestige of service in the Department of Internal Affairs, which, in turn, should "block" the desire of authorized persons to condone the commission of illegal actions of intruders, strengthening the role of departments and departments of their own security in police activities, the implementation of a real struggle with "werewolves in uniform".

9. Adjustment of the current legislation in the field of purchase and sale of special equipment used by intruders for theft and theft of vehicles, tightening, and in the future, complete eradication of the facts of the sale of this equipment to individuals. If we consider this item objectively, at present anyone can safely purchase a special device that helps to commit theft of vehicles, easy to operate and inexpensive in the price segment. In this regard, it is necessary to block this information flow of offers for the purchase of equipment, tougher responsibility for their sale and purchase, up to real imprisonment.

10. In terms of the "lag" of law enforcement agencies from the methods and means of intruders in thefts and carjackings, it is necessary to start catching up and systematizing the experience gained earlier, which is abundant in territorial bodies on the ground. All that is needed is systematization and competent leadership in order to "wrap" this information in a shell, analyze it and strive for more, but, in no case, "do not tread" on the spot, as in the current realities, most operational units do, dealing only with registration and accumulation of material, but not with the operational development of criminal groups and persons who commit theft and theft of motor vehicles.

Thus, thefts and illegal seizures of motor vehicles currently occupy a special place in the block of property crimes. In order to prevent and solve this type of crimes, planned work is needed to improve and update the algorithm of actions of police officers in general, from territorial police departments to the main criminal investigation department. Timely measures taken will make it possible to resist the criminal element, both in information and in practical and applied terms. This type of crime is characterized by difficulty in collecting and accumulating evidence, therefore, for successful disclosure and bringing a criminal case to trial, close cooperation of investigative units and criminal investigation units, conducting operational developments and competently selected investigative actions is necessary. Without solving the complex of problems that have arisen before this type of property crimes, it is impossible to achieve common goals in the fight against crime. Therefore, the priority element should be the right of police officers to social security, decent wages, the prestige of this profession and stability in society. Without these components, any shifts in this direction are impossible and a priori doomed to failure.