Հայ
Рус- 26 July, 2021
- Economy and Energy
On July 7, the new Patrol Service of the Police began its activity in Yerevan. It replaced the Patrol Service Regiment of the Yerevan Department and the First Battalion of the Traffic Police.
The new patrol service is unprecedented in Armenia in terms of innovation and substantive changes. It is different in almost every way. The order of admission of employees, the organization of education, the content of education, functions, weapons, uniforms, cars, equipment have changed, and new staff has been involved.
However, it was not these substantive changes that became the subject of public debate, but the design and logo of the cars.
The design of new cars was especially criticized. It was compared to the logo of the Stimorol chewing gum.
The citizens also complained that most of the cars had Latin letters on them, and there was almost no Armenian writing. The Language Committee also referred to the issue, noting that the information on the patrol cars and uniforms of patrol officers is dominated by a foreign language, which is a violation of Article 20 of the Constitution and the Law of the Republic of Armenia on Language. The Committee informed that it is taking the necessary measures to clarify the circumstances of the matter and to ensure conformity with the procedure prescribed by law.
The Union of Informed Citizens tried to reveal how the problematic design was chosen, as it did not correspond to the design presented in the Coordination Council for Police Reform.
Two tenders instead of one
The Ministry of Justice responded that the ministry, together with its international partners (US Embassy in Yerevan), had initiated the development of a new logo and full design package of the Patrol Service.
The package has been provided by the ministry.
The consultant presented several design options, which were passed on to the police authorities.
The Ministry has also attached the proposed options. There are seven of them in total. Here are some of those options. You can get acquainted with the complete package by following this link.
The ministry was informed that the Police were also taking steps to collect design proposals.
“As a result, a logo was selected for the Patrol Service, which was not included in the mentioned package of proposals,” Minister Rustam Badasyan’s response reads.
The Police informed the Union of Informed Citizens NGO that on September 16, 2020, a tender was announced for the logo and color design of the vehicles of the new patrol service, according to the quotation procedure (contract code: HHOHGHZB-LOGO / 2020 / PAREK). According to Gnumner.am website, 5 participants submitted bid applications.
According to the Police, as a result of the tender, on October 20, a contract in the amount of AMD 98 thousand was signed with “Tsolak Gevorgyan” PE in accordance with the law.
Thus, both the Ministry of Justice and the US Embassy, and the Police announced similar tenders, as a result of which the logo of the new patrol service (and the holographic design of the vehicles) had to be decided.
The results of the tenders “thrown into the trash can”
“In parallel with the mentioned processes, the design options for the logo of the Patrol Service have also been developed by the Police. The version approved by the police leadership was used in the design of the arm signs and patrol cars,” the police said.
In other words, in addition to the winners of the two tenders (which, by the way, were paid by Armenian and American taxpayers), the Police prepared their own logo and holographic design of the cars. Then the Police decided that they would use the version developed by them, not the winner of the tenders.
As for the predominance of foreign language writing on cars, the Police note that the decision was based on the type of service, including the goal of being more understandable to foreign citizens. They added that as a result of the procedure initiated by the Language Committee, the approach may be reconsidered.
In other words, we cannot rule out that the holographic design of the cars and the logos of the uniforms will change. It will certainly be an additional expense for Armenian taxpayers (the amount of which is yet to be disclosed).
It is still unclear how the current logo was selected, who exactly the author is, and after all, by whose decision it was approved. It should be noted that a tender was announced by several organizations, there were even winners (who received the corresponding sums), but, for unknown reasons, the Police developed and approved their own versions. In order to get the answers to these questions, the Union of Informed Citizens NGO continues to request information, and the public will be informed about the results shortly.
Ani Grigoryan
Union of Informed Citizens
