On January 16, an annual summary press conference of the Minister of Internal Affairs Arpine Sargsyan was held at the new administrative complex of the Patrol Service and the Operations Management Center. She presented the activities of the Ministry and its subordinate services in 2024, the results achieved through reforms and also answered questions from the journalists.
Before the press conference, journalists had the opportunity to tour the area and familiarize themselves with the building conditions and material-technical facilities of the newly constructed administrative complex.
Below, the full speech of the Minister of Internal Affairs.
“Dear representatives of the media,
The reform process that began with the establishment of the Ministry of Internal Affairs continued in 2024 and has entered an irreversible phase. In 2025, we will also invest significant efforts in the direction of establishing resilient institutions under the Ministry's mandate. These institutions must operate with high professionalism standards, aiming to provide the best services to our citizens and ensure the internal security environment.
By the way, the new administrative complex of the Patrol Service and the Operations Management Center as the choice of the location for the press conference is significant, considering the modern standards we have ensured here for our employees, providing the necessary prerequisites for high professionalism.
I should note that 2024 was full of challenges, but despite this, several important initiatives were completed, one of the most significant being the completion of the activities on the full establishment of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Thus, a fully democratic institution was formed, thereby ensuring high accountability to the parliament and, consequently, to the people. Achieving our ambitious goals would be impossible without professional human resources, and the efforts aimed at shaping and developing this human potential also include the creation of a unified educational complex within the Ministry of Internal Affairs. In 2024, the legislative foundations for these actions were laid.
The large-scale reforms, the details of which I will present today, have also been supported by our international partners. A significant recognition of our efforts in international cooperation is the launch of the visa liberalization dialogue with the EU. In 2024, we also initiated the practical phase of this dialogue and we expect that during this year, we will have a concrete action plan, which will serve as a roadmap for reforms in migration management, public service delivery and public safety overall. The Ministry of Internal Affairs will lead the substantive direction of the process. In the context of international partnerships, we also have extensive cooperation with our U.S. counterparts, who are providing vital support for our institutional reforms. This has also been emphasized in the Strategic Partnership Charter of Armenia-U.S. signed two days ago in Washington.
Institutionally, addressing the function of ensuring public safety, I will present the results of activities of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in 2024.
In 2024, two more of the four pillar branches of the Police were established in addition to the Patrol Service: the Criminal Police and the Community Police.
The new Criminal Police is a professional and specialized unit dedicated to combating serious and particularly serious crimes. Its scope of activities also includes coordinating efforts to fight various types of sector-specific crimes and organized crime, including transnational criminal activities.
In the logic of the new structural model of the police, in addition to detecting minor and medium-level crimes and carrying out work to prevent domestic and family violence, the Community Police is also tasked with responding to and addressing issues that concern the community through active communication with the public. Their responsibilities include identifying and eliminating conditions and causes that lead to criminal activity, thus playing a key role in overall crime prevention. This is our formula: to have specialized units whose new structure maximally supports the effective implementation of their functions.
The Patrol Service continued to provide external service with its new and modern model. The Service continues to record impressive results not only in the prevention and detection of administrative offenses, but also in the prevention and detection of crimes, especially in public places. In 2024, a total of 3,691 criminal cases were detected by or with the involvement of patrol officers. As you know, the Water Patrol Service was also formed at the end of 2023, thanks to whose actions this year we have had controllable public order on the public beaches and coastal areas of Lake Sevan, as well as counteracted fish-stealing. In 2024, the Water Patrol Service uncovered 15 cases of illegal fishing during the prohibited period and without permits, and around 1 ton of illegally caught fish was confiscated.
In other words, the three main directions are institutionally established, so our efforts should focus on their consolidation and development. The establishment of the final, fourth direction has entered the practical phase. In this regard, it is important to note that we still face challenges related to both public communication and internal cooperation within the services, which are being addressed progressively.
At the end of 2024, the "Police Guard" law was adopted, and we will fully form it from November 1, 2025, specially trained force dedicated to maintaining public order, which will be responsible for servicing gatherings, ensuring the effective exercise of citizens' right to hold peaceful assemblies. The service will also be prepared to thwart any attempts to undermine the country's internal security, neutralizing all threats to public safety.
Through this legislative initiative, for the first time in the country, a standard for the use of force will be implemented. Essentially, the Police is a large and diverse organization and from this perspective, creating and ensuring the application of unified standards is a complex process. However, we have taken on this commitment and we will direct our efforts toward its proper implementation in the coming year.
Women also play a significant role in the establishment of our services, and we continue to make efforts to increase their involvement. Currently, we have an open recruitment where the majority of positions are allocated to female applicants. Taking this opportunity, I urge women and girls to participate in this recruitment.
In 2024, recorded crimes decreased by 1.1% compared to the previous year. Alongside institutional and long-term solutions, we have also focused on preventive and enhanced services. We have tested some methodological changes regarding specific types of crimes (such as thefts and illegal drug trafficking), which has resulted in a 1.1% decrease in crimes in 2024 or 434 fewer cases, bringing the total to 40,232 cases (compared to 40,666 in 2023). This means that in 2024, we saw a decrease in the number of crimes, which is the result of consistent efforts.
It should also be noted that the majority of the recorded cases in the overall structure of 81.4% crime were classified as minor (20,361 cases or 51.0%) and medium-level (12,253 cases or 30.4%). In the case of the Republic of Armenia, this structure is a norm, which means that our country is considered safe in terms of the degree of criminal threat. This is also confirmed by studies from reputable international analytical platforms.
In various instances, we also observe that traditional forms of crime have transformed into more modern forms, utilizing the achievements of the internet or information technology. Our task is to consistently continue strengthening the toolkit of the Police, while promoting behavioral change in the public. Of course, this is a very difficult task, but it is possible to achieve results step by step with perseverance.
According to operative reports, 1,579 firearms were seized, discovered and voluntarily transferred during the same period, which is 152 or 10.7% more than in the previous year (1,427-1, 579). Nevertheless, crimes committed with the use of weapons continue to cause concern (shooting, the use of firearms, knives, etc.), and on the instructions of the Prime Minister, we have already developed specific solutions to this issue.
Additionally, current methodological solutions in the fight against crime, a process for the general prevention of crime has also been initiated at the strategic level.
In 2024, there was a decrease in traffic accidents (299 fewer), victims (45 fewer), and casualties (421 fewer) compared to the previous year.
Speaking about road traffic accidents, I would like to note that in 2024, we succeeded in significantly reducing both the number of accidents and victims and casualties resulting from them.
During the reporting period, there was a decrease in traffic accidents by 299 (from 4,613 to 4,314), victims by 45 (from 378 to 333) and casualties by 421 (from 6,537 to 6,116).
Overall, analyzing the statistics of road traffic accidents from previous years, it must be noted that a significant increase in registered vehicles in the country has also contributed to this trend.
Even in this context, with approximately 964,000 vehicles on the road, the number of victims from RTA in 2024 was 13 fewer than in 2015, when the number of vehicles was around 560,000 (346 to 333).
Studies conducted in this area indicate that this outcome is primarily due to the full activation of the Patrol Service throughout the country starting in 2024. Our purpose is to continue to foster behavioral change among the public and establish safe driving as a cultural norm.
In the past three years, the number of applications for Armenian citizenship has tripled, exceeding 20,000 per year.
In the context of reforms, the Ministry of Internal Affairs considers it essential to provide high-quality, citizen-centered services in a digital environment wherever possible. A number of steps have already been taken in this direction, and important programs have also been developed as part of the plans for upcoming year.
Institutionally, the formation of the Migration and Citizenship Service was completed in 2024 and the functions of the registration and examination services were transferred to the Ministry's jurisdiction given their civil nature. We have seen a significant increase in the demand for public services across various areas, such as applications for Armenian citizenship, which have tripled in the last three years, with annual applications surpassing 20,000. In this regard, steps have been taken to reduce waiting times and digitize the process.
Overall, the reforms were carried out alongside the management of complex and crisis situations in some cases, particularly related to the forced displacement from Nagorno-Karabakh.
The significant increase in the volume of services is due both to the described situation and the changes in the aviation market, which have made our citizens more mobile, leading to an overload of regional offices. To address these issues, we have improved the appointment systems for both passport services and the services provided by the registration and examination departments, adapting to citizens' needs and addressing complaints raised in previous years.
For example, we recorded up to 35,000 simultaneous appointments for passport services in the summer of 2024, which previously would have led to a 2-3 month waiting period under the old system. With the new system, citizens can receive service on the same day. Despite the significant increase in demand for identification cards due to the declaration requirement, the situation remains manageable overall.
In 2024, we also launched a mobile format for passport services, with a working group visiting eight regions and accepting over 500 applications. We will continue providing services in this format in 2025, for which we have acquired three specially equipped vehicles. These vehicles will be used to deliver mobile services, including other types of public services.
However, we consider these solutions to be short-term, and we plan to modernize our passport system entirely through a state-private partnership corporation in the long term, based on the international best practices. This will include the introduction of a comprehensive biometric data management infrastructure. This will also be an important step in the context of visa liberalization with the EU.
Organizing the delivery of services in the most digitized and simplified manner is also a principled approach and measures have been taken in all areas of public services in this direction. The establishment of communication and service standards, along with the continuous and effective monitoring of service quality, has been institutionalized through the creation of the relevant subdivisions and the definition and legalization of sector-specific requirements.
In the areas where the Rescue Service had implemented the patrolling, there were no drowning cases.
Significant activities had been done in risk management for disasters and other emergency situations, as well as in the process of operational response. In 2024, the Crisis Management National Center of the Rescue Service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs received a total of 1,569,871 calls to the 911 hotline (compared to 1,727,690 calls in 2023). Simultaneously, considerable efforts had been made in preventing and quickly responding to wildfires, resulting in a decrease in wildfire cases in 2024 by 9 cases, or 41%, from 22 cases in 2023 to 13.
The rescuers implemented their patrolling with great dedication to save human lives. During the swimming season at the three public beaches of Lake Sevan and the coastal area of Shoghakat village, around-the-clock patrolling was implemented, as a result in total 31 lives had been saved. No drowning cases were recorded in the areas where the patrolling was conducted. During the winter season, the Rescue Service pulled stuck 5,756 vehicles (3,162 in 2023) out and safely moved 10,659 people (7,502 in 2023) to a safe area.
The Rescue Service of MIA responded promptly to the emergency situation caused by heavy rains in Lori and Tavush provinces of the republic on May 25-26, 2024. This included early recovery efforts and the elimination of post-disaster consequences. The activities of the national commission assessing the damage caused to individuals and legal entities due to the emergency situation was also coordinated by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, ensuring the implementation of the compensation process for those affected by the disaster.
The strategic approaches are also in place to enhance the resilience of the state to disasters and other emergency situations, which were being implemented within the framework of the Disaster Risk Management Strategy for 2023-2030 approved by the Government in October 2023. In 2025, our focus will be on modernizing the structure of the Rescue Service, continuing the development and implementation of technical, fire safety, insurance, urban planning and other standards.
Actually, above mentioned brief list of the large-scale actions includes a huge amount of activity, which is often not visible. 2025 will continue to be a year of institutional reforms and development for us".