Publication date: 28.04.2024
The use of firearms by the police is the most severe coercive measure in the work of law enforcement officers. Police officers have the right to carry and use firearms only after undergoing special training and under certain conditions.
The Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine establishes the procedure for storing and carrying firearms, as well as the list of weapons used by the police and the rules for their use.
Police officers may use firearms in exceptional cases, including:
1. to repel an attack on oneself or members of one's family;
2. to protect citizens from attack;
3. for the release of hostages;
4. for protection against attack on residential and non-residential buildings, objects under protection, as well as for their liberation in case of capture;
5. to apprehend a person who has committed a crime or is in custody and trying to escape;
6. to detain a person with a weapon who demonstrates the intention to use it;
7. to stop the movement of a vehicle that poses a threat to other people or a police officer;
8. to stop the flight of an unmanned aerial vehicle, if there is information that it poses a threat to the life or health of other people or a police officer.
The procedure for using a firearm involves warning a person about the need to stop illegal actions and the intention to use a weapon.
However, under certain circumstances, the law allows a police officer to use a firearm without warning.Citizens should be aware that a police officer is authorized to use a firearm without warning in the following cases:
Self-defense: if a person detained by a police officer with a gun in his hands makes an attempt to approach him or touch the policeman's weapon.
Armed attack: in the case of an armed attack or a sudden attack, when military equipment, vehicles or other means that threaten the life or health of people are used.
Fleeing in a vehicle: If a person who has been apprehended or arrested for a felony is fleeing in a vehicle, a police officer may use a firearm without warning.
Armed resistance: If a person offers armed resistance, a police officer may take self-defense measures, including the use of a firearm.
Weapon Seizure: A police officer may use a firearm without warning to stop an attempted seizure.
Scope of use of weapons
The law allows a police officer to use a firearm only to the extent necessary and sufficient to prevent or stop an armed attack in a particular setting. It is precisely because of this provision of the law that, in specific cases, there may be a question of police officers exceeding their powers when using firearms. After all, Ukrainian legislation qualifies the case of killing an offender when it was possible to divert or stop an armed attack without using lethal shots as an excess of authority.
Protection against attack
The use of weapons or other protective means by any civilian in Ukraine to ward off an attack by an armed person or group of persons, as well as to protect housing or other premises from illegal invasion, does not entail criminal liability, regardless of the degree of damage caused to the attackers . That is, acting according to the principle "everything that is not expressly prohibited by law is allowed", a civilian in Ukraine, in the case of the possibility of averting or stopping illegal actions by other means, can safely cause fatal injuries to the health of an armed attacker, an attacking unarmed group of persons, or in in the event of an illegal and violent invasion of an apartment or other premises without worrying about liability. A policeman in Ukraine is not allowed to do this.
A police officer may use a firearm during an armed attack only if it is impossible to divert or stop the armed attack by other means.
Restrictions on the use of firearms by the police
A police officer is prohibited from using weapons in places where other people may be harmed, as well as in flammable and explosive places, except when it is necessary to repel an attack.
The reason for taking a weapon into the hands of a policeman
A police officer can take a weapon in his hands and bring it to the ready if he believes that there are grounds for its use.
Other situations
In addition to the specified cases of the use of firearms by a police officer, he may use a weapon only to give an alarm signal, call for auxiliary forces or neutralize a dangerous animal.The use of firearms by the police is a last resort and must comply with the principle of necessity and sufficiency. It must be justified and comply with legal regulations, ensuring safety for both law enforcement officers and citizens.
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