Suppression by Police Officers of Offenses of Art. 19.3 of the Administrative Code

Astaf'ev Ivan Nikolaevich ORCID: 0000-0002-7835-1746 Lecturer of the Department of Administrative Law and Administrative Activity of Internal Affairs Bodies of the Omsk Academy of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia 644092, Russia, Omsk region, Omsk, Prospekt Komarova str., 7 ast_ivn@inbox.ru

According to Parts 3 and 4 of Article 30 of Federal Law No. 3-FZ of February 7, 2011 "On the Police", the legal requirements of a police officer are mandatory for citizens to fulfill. The official activity of a police officer is subject to administrative and legal protection. The definition of administrative and legal protection of the activities of employees of the internal affairs bodies was formulated by Yu.P. Solovey - "... administrative and legal protection of the activities of the police has as its content the establishment and implementation of administrative and legal norms defining the system of measures of restraint by the police of acts of counteraction to its activities, providing for responsibility for their commission" ^[1]. The current Code of Administrative Offences of the Russian Federation (hereinafter referred to as the Administrative Code of the Russian Federation) provides for norms that provide administrative and legal protection of the official activities of the police in the form of responsibility for committing administrative offences that directly or indirectly infringe on its activities. Such norms include: Part 1. Article 6.9; part 1.2 of Article 12.25; Article 12.26; Part 3 of Article 12.27; Article 17.7; part 1, 1.1 of Article 19.3; Article 19.24; Article 19.35; part 2 of Article 20.1; Part 5 of Article 20.2; Part 4.2 of Article 20.8; Article 20.25 Administrative Code of the Russian Federation.

The absolute majority of the norms providing administrative and legal protection of police activities, except for Part 1 of Article 19.3 of the Administrative Code of the Russian Federation, have a descriptive disposition (i.e. they are special norms). The disposition of Part 1 of Article 19.3 of the Administrative Code of the Russian Federation has a simple form – there is no generalized description of the external manifestations of administrative offenses - the actions (inactions) of the offender. Thus, the composition of the administrative offense provided for in Part 1 of Article 19.3 of the Administrative Code of the Russian Federation determines the failure to fulfill the duties assigned to citizens and officials of Part 3, 4 of Article 30 of the Federal Law "On Police", which violate the rights of the police (Article 13 of the Federal Law "On Police" dated 07.02.2011 No. 3-FZ"), but are not contained in the relevant special norms of the Administrative Code of the Russian Federation.

Thus, there is a problem of qualification of an administrative offense provided for in Part 1 of Article 19.3 of the Administrative Code of the Russian Federation - failure to comply with legal orders or requirements of police officers, as well as obstruction of their official duties. Stroeva O.A. believes that this is due to a number of reasons. Firstly, the variety of ways in which disobedience and obstruction of the performance of official duties by a police officer can be expressed. Secondly, there is a conflict between special norms and the general norm providing for liability for failure to comply with the legal requirements of a police officer. Thirdly, the problem of qualification requires the study of modern judicial practice of consideration of administrative cases under Article 19.3 of the Administrative Code of the Russian Federation ^[2].

Earlier, we conducted research on the current state of administrative and legal protection of police activities ^[3].  A list of relevant administrative and legal norms has been determined and the application of these norms by police officers has been monitored. The increase in the number of administrative offenses provided for in Article 19.3 of the Administrative Code of the Russian Federation is shown. This study is devoted to the study of which police units most often stop this type of administrative offenses and what decisions are taken by judicial authorities when considering cases of this type of administrative offenses. The obtained scientific data will allow us to narrow down the range of issues under study.

The results of the study in the form of statistical analysis of data on the number of administrative offenses suppressed by employees of various police departments under Article 19.3 of the Administrative Code of the Russian Federation are presented in Tables 1, 2 and Figure 1.

From 2018 to 2022, the number of administrative offenses stopped by police officers under Part 1 of Article 19.3 of the Administrative Code of the Russian Federation increased by 18% – from 62,874 cases in 2018 to 74,339 cases in 2022^[1]. Most often, this type of administrative offense was stopped by district police officers - 61.1% of cases; police patrol officers - 29.6% of cases; officers of duty units - 2.7% of cases (Table 1).

Table 1

Suppression of administrative offenses provided for in Part 1 of Article 19.3 of the Administrative Code of the Russian Federation by employees of various divisions of internal affairs bodies from 2018 to 2022

There was an increase in the number of suppressed administrative offenses under Part 1 of Article 19.3 of the Administrative Code of the Russian Federation:

by patrol police officers - by 29,1,7% (from 36,108 in 2018 to 46,616 in 2022);

by district police commissioners – by 8.6% (from 19.226 in 2018 to 20.872 in 2022);

employees of police duty units – by 2.7% (from 1.808 in 2018 to 1.870 in 2021).

Employees of other police units suppressed administrative offenses provided for in Part. Article 19.3 of the Administrative Code of the Russian Federation, in small numbers.

In 2022, there was a sharp decrease in the number of suppressed administrative offenses under Part 1 of Article 19.3 of the Administrative Code of the Russian Federation by traffic police officers from 1,602 in 2018 to 0 in 2022.

The number of administrative offenses suppressed by police officers under Part 1.1 of Article 19.3 of the Administrative Code of the Russian Federation (disobedience to a lawful order or request of an official of the internal affairs bodies authorized to exercise functions of control and supervision in the field of migration, in connection with the performance of their official duties or obstruction of the performance of their official duties), increased from 30 cases in 2018, up to 105 cases in 2022. This type of administrative offense was suppressed in 82.1% of cases by district police officers; in 5.5% of cases – by police patrol officers; in 2.0% of cases - by employees of anti-extremism units, in 1.7% of cases – by employees of administrative law enforcement units.

The results of decision-making by judicial authorities in cases of administrative offenses provided for in Article 19.3 of the Administrative Code of the Russian Federation are presented in Table 2.

Table 2

Judicial decision-making on cases

on administrative offences provided for by

Article 19.3 of the Administrative Code of the Russian Federation, from 2018 to 2022

From 2018 to 2022, there was a 22.5% increase in court decisions under Article 19.3 of the Administrative Code of the Russian Federation from the minimum value of 53.836 cases in 2018 to 69.439 cases in 2022.

The number of dismissed cases under Article 19.3 of the Administrative Code of the Russian Federation due to the absence of the composition or event of the offense decreased by 14.6% - from 415 cases in 2018 to 362 cases in 2022, which is 0.77-0.52% of the total number of decisions taken in accordance with Article 23.1 of the Administrative Code of the Russian Federation.

The penalties imposed by the court for administrative offenses under Article 19.3 of the Administrative Code of the Russian Federation from 2018 to 2022 have the following relative characteristics: "administrative fine" was imposed by the court in 51.4-57.9% of cases; "administrative arrest" in 42.1-48.0% of cases; "oral remark (Article 2.9 of the Administrative Code of the Russian Federation)" 0.0-0.1% of cases. Mandatory work was appointed by the court only in 2022 and accounted for 0.6% of cases (Figure 1).

The relative number (in %) of punishments imposed by the court for administrative offenses under Article 19.3 of the Administrative Code of the Russian Federation (from bottom to top - "administrative fine"; "administrative arrest"; "oral remark (according to Article 2.9 of the Administrative Code of the Russian Federation)"; "mandatory work") from 2018 to 2022

Administrative arrest from 1 to 5 days was ordered by the court in 79-82% of cases; from 6 to 10 days - in 15-17% of cases; over 10 days - in 3-5% of cases.

The average amount of an administrative fine imposed by the court increased by 67.5% - from 692 rubles in 2018 to 2.100 rubles in 2022.

ConclusionsFrom 2018 to 2022, the number of administrative offenses suppressed by police officers under Part 1 of Article 19.3 of the Administrative Code of the Russian Federation increased by 18%.

Among the police units, administrative offenses provided for in Part 1 of Article 19.3 of the Administrative Code of the Russian Federation are most often stopped by patrol police officers - 61.1% of the total number and district police officers – 29.6%.

Administrative offenses provided for in Part 1.1 of Article 19.3 of the Administrative Code of the Russian Federation are more often suppressed by district police commissioners - 82.1% of cases and police patrol officers - 5.5% of cases.

From 2018 to 2022, there was an increase in the number of administrative offenses under Part 1 of Article 19.3 of the Administrative Code of the Russian Federation, suppressed by patrol police officers - by 29.1% and district police officers – by 8.6%.

The number of cases terminated by judicial authorities under Article 19.3 of the Administrative Code of the Russian Federation for the absence of the composition or event of the offense in the period from 2018 to 2022 varied in the range of 0.77-0.52% of the total number of decisions made in accordance with Article 23.1 of the Administrative Code of the Russian Federation.

An increase in administrative offenses provided for in Article 19.3 of the Administrative Code of the Russian Federation may indicate a low efficiency of administrative punishment. In this regard, the prospects for further research should be the study of domestic and foreign experience in improving the effectiveness of administrative punishment.

The statistical data obtained indicate the need to conduct research on the study of the composition of administrative offenses provided for in Article 19.3 of the Administrative Code of the Russian Federation, suppressed by officers of the patrol and patrol service of the police and local police commissioners.

Knowledge of the composition of administrative offenses suppressed by police patrol officers and district police officers, the use of this knowledge in the professional training of these categories of employees, will increase the level of professional preparedness of employees - reduce the number of terminated cases by judicial authorities for the absence of the composition or event of the offense (Article 23.1 of the Administrative Code of the Russian Federation), as well as in view of the presence of circumstances, excluding proceedings in the case of an administrative offense (Article 24.5. of the Administrative Code of the Russian Federation).

^[1] See: Information on the administrative practice of the internal affairs bodies of the Russian Federation. Form I-AP (577) Moscow: GIAC of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia, 2018-2022.