Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan today participated in the solemn session of the Collegium dedicated to the 107th anniversary of the Police at the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

Before the session, Nikol Pashinyan and Minister of Internal Affairs Arpine Sargsyan laid flowers at the memorial plaque installed in the courtyard of the Police building and paid tribute to the memory of the police officers who sacrificed their lives for the sake of the homeland.

At the session of the Collegium, the Prime Minister made a speech, congratulated all the Police officers on the anniversary, and thanked them for their service. Nikol Pashinyan emphasized that the Police is one of the most important pillars of the state. According to the Prime Minister, over the past seven years, 121 billion drams, or $300 million, have been invested in police reforms from the state budget of the Republic of Armenia, as well as tangible and significant investments have been made by international partners.

The Prime Minister recalled the path of police and patrol service reforms and noted that although new cars, equipment, clothing, and physical infrastructure are already a reality, all of this is not a goal, but just a means. "All of this should serve to change the person, because all of this, the new car, will have no meaning if the person performing the service in or with that new car does not change. In other words, the equipment changed, the person did not change. What will we get as a result of this? We will get nothing. And right now, today, more than ever, I want to draw everyone's attention to this," the Prime Minister said and added that all of this is being done in order to change the perception of work.

According to Nikol Pashinyan, the level of demandingness we have from ourselves regarding work must increase every day, otherwise the investments made will be meaningless. The Prime Minister emphasized that this refers not only to police officers and civil servants, but also to citizens. "We need a fundamental change in the attitude of all of us towards our state and our legal system. Recently, in contacts and meetings with citizens, people have been raising this issue very often, saying, 'What explanation do you have for why we behave in one way in Armenia, and when we find ourselves in another state, European, American, we behave differently?' What is the explanation for this? I don't want to retell that explanation for too long, but the reason is our attitude towards the state, because we treat the Republic of Armenia, as a state, in one way, and we treat other states much more seriously. And this is a fundamental problem and this is expressed in all of us," said Nikol Pashinyan.

Emphasizing that in institutional terms, the police is the primary visible institution of the country's internal security and defense, and the implemented reforms demonstrate the attitude towards the state servant, the bearer of shoulder strap of the state, the symbol of the state, the Prime Minister noted: "It is very important that the police also have the same attitude, and we must also have a task in our daily service, that the same attitude be shown by the citizen. And this is a complementary action. Yes, the citizen must have respect for the state and the service, the service must earn and protect that respect every day. And so on."

In his speech, the Prime Minister also touched upon the formation of the criminal police, community police, and spoke about the formation of the police guard. "I want to say that all this should mean a change in content and a change in attitude towards the state, the service, the public, and also a change in the public's attitude. The respect that the police have, we must increase with our daily work, little by little, gram by gram," Nikol Pashinyan emphasized.

Summing up his speech, the Prime Minister once again congratulated everyone, expressed gratitude for the work being done, and noted that reform is a continuous process and it is important that the reform process brings interim results.

On the occasion of Police Day, a group of employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Armenia were awarded the commemorative medal and a certificate of appreciation of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia for their contribution to the maintenance of law and order, as well as for their dedication and high professional readiness in performing their official duties.