Russian President Dmitry Medvedev proposed on Thursday to introduce tougher punishment for crimes committed by police officers than for those carried out by civilians.
Medvedev earlier ordered police personnel cuts by 20% over the next two years to be balanced by higher salaries for remaining staff in a bid to address public anger and avert negative perceptions of police by widespread corruption.
"I submitted earlier today according bills to the State Duma and signed an order," Medvedev said at a meeting with the Interior Ministry's senior officials.
The president also pledged to halve the Interior Ministry's central apparatus to 10,000 people as part of the ministry's reform.
"I have made the decision to cut the central apparatus personnel to 10,000 from 19,970," Medvedev said.
He also said he had instructed Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliyev to submit "a detailed plan for improving" police work within a month and urged efforts to raise crime solution.
"Despite the measures being taken, only half the crimes have so far been solved annually. Over 1.3 million crimes remain unsolved," Medvedev said.
He also urged the introduction of a new system of anti-corruption measures and new procedures for selecting individuals for the police force "taking into account their morals, ethics and psychological characteristics."
The random shooting on April 29, 2009 by a former head of a Moscow police station, Denis Yevsyukov, sparked nationwide outrage and prompted the dismissals of a number of top police officials in the Russian capital.
MOSCOW, February 18 (RIA Novosti)
