13 July 2011, 16:00
Astrakhan Region: policemen punished for using child in road police's simulation
In the Astrakhan Region the head of the police department for Krasnoyarsk District and the head of the District GIBDD (road police) were announced disciplinary actions for using a child in the action "Attentive driver", reported the Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) of the region.
Earlier the "Caucasian Knot" reported that during the action on the central street of the village of Krasny Yar road police officers checked drivers' response by staging a road accident involving a child, watching who of road users would stop seeing the bloodied teenager (a 14-year-old schoolboy, smeared with red paint, was put under wheels of a car, with a bicycle next to him), and who would pass by.
In such a manner the law enforcement agents tried to draw road users' attention to the problem of children safety in roads, including the problem of children road accident injuries.
The MIA's Department for Astrakhan Region cautioned against misrepresentation of facts to the other road users during preventive actions, the "Interfax" reports.
Lyudmila Alekseeva, the head of the Moscow Helsinki Group, criticized loudly this experiment of the GIBDD officers, calling the Astrakhan GIBDD initiative "a savagery". The human rights activist believes that the experiment of the road police officers could cause psychological trauma to the child.
See earlier report: "Astrakhan Region: 'injured child' checked drivers' response to road accident".