Peculiarities of the National Police personnel participation in combat operations

Abstract

The full-scale war in Ukraine has been going on for three years now, and the Russian army is facing steady resistance from the Ukrainian Armed Forces. The law enforcement forces cannot help but take part in hostilities in the course of their direct duties. Law enforcement officers are disciplined, trained, have certain knowledge of combat tactics, and are armed, so they can help effectively in confronting the enemy. The article analyses the combat capability and readiness of police officers to fight a general military battle. It has been noted that the most problematic issues are fire contact with enemy forces and tactics in the areas of service. Based on the analysis of literature and modern military operations, the directions for improving the effectiveness of actions of the National Police personnel in case of their participation in a general military battle have been identified. On the basis of a poll of various units of the National Police, the patterns are identified and the qualitative indicators of their readiness for combat operations have been assessed. The main situations and peculiarities of combat operations by law enforcement officers, as well as components of their readiness for these operations are analysed. The general military combat by police officers in small tactical groups is considered and its features are analysed. To confirm the theoretical provisions, the following experiments have been conducted with the use of firearms and in the context of modelling extreme situations during combat. Based on the analysis of information and the results of the experiments, a number of problematic issues related to the participation of police officers in hostilities have been revealed. The main problem is the lack of training of law enforcement officers for combat operations. There are also relevant issues of tactics and use of weapons by police officers during hostilities. Recommendations for improving the system of professional and in-service training of police officers are provided.

Keywords

• national police
• combat operations
• combat capability
• combat readiness
• tactics
• tactical and specialised training
• firearms training
• fire contact.