Armenia`s ministry of interior proposes removing age limits for  police officers 

ArmInfo. The Ministry of Internal Affairs of Armenia proposes to abolish the age limit for joining the police. The draft, posted on the unified portal of legal acts  e-draft.am, also provides an opportunity for a police officer  appointed for the first time to undergo certification not six months  after his/her appointment to the position, but at any time on his/her  own initiative.

As noted in the explanatory note to the document, as a result of the  studies conducted, it became clear that there is no expediency in  establishing an upper age limit for joining the police, since police  officers, due to their professional, physical training and health  condition, fully perform their duties without age restrictions.  In  this regard, it became necessary to abolish the age limit for joining  the police, which will allow persons over 35 years of age to join the  police, who, due to their personal and professional qualities,  education, physical training and health condition, can perform police  functions.

As stated by the authors of the initiative, within the framework of  the ongoing reforms, an important direction is considered to be a  significant improvement in the professional training of community  police personnel and replenishment.

In the context of the formation of a unified educational complex of  the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Armenia, it is  envisaged that in the logic of continuous education, the training of  community police officers will be carried out within the framework of  a professional educational program, a mandatory condition for  admission to which will be one year of service after receiving the  initial professional (craft) police education. Considering the  duration of the above-mentioned process, in order to promptly  replenish the ranks of the community police with graduates of a more  targeted educational program, following the example of the criminal  police, there is a need to develop and implement a one-time  professional educational program for the qualification of <community  police officer>, in which citizens with higher education and current  police officers can participate.

In addition, the current legislation establishes that an employee  appointed to a position in the police for the first time is subject  to certification no earlier than six months from the date of  appointment to the position.  The bill proposes to repeal Part 7 of  Article 15 of the Law of July 3, 2002 HO-401-N <On Police Service>,  which allows a police officer appointed to a position for the first  time to undergo certification at any time immediately after  appointment on his own initiative.

In this case, employees who have received a vocational education in  the specialty of <community police>, as well as the relevant  training, are considered to have passed the certification, which  gives the right to receive an additional payment. 

It is envisaged that only persons who have received a professional  vocational education in this specialty in an educational institution  of the authorized body can be appointed to the position of community  police officer. As for current police officers, their appointment to  the positions of middle, senior and basic staff of the community  police will be carried out exclusively after completing the relevant  training course in an educational institution of the authorized body.