Interior ministry set to combat crime, alcoholism in rural areas

April 18, Pozirk. The interior ministry intends to deploy police patrols to rural areas amid reports that countryside accounts for every fifth economic crime despite the falling crime rates across Belarus, its press office reported.

The move comes two days after Alaksandar Łukašenka took officials and executives to task over poor farm management.

Police, local authorities, social services and healthcare workers plan to implement measures to eradicate alcoholism, unemployment and neglect of duty, responsible for crimes against Belarus’ food security, said police official Alaksandar Kupčenia.

Law enforcers will pay special attention to “unemployed alcohol abusers, who are registered with the police, live together with their elderly parents or are raising minor children,” he noted.

Special groups will be set up to prevent crime and encourage rural residents to seek jobs, the official added.

Those who commit offenses repeatedly while drunk and do not look for jobs will be sent to the specialized labor therapy centers known as LTP, Kupčenia said.

Authorities plan to strengthen labor discipline at farms and inform managers of every violation, while offenders’ behavior will be reviewed publicly at the meetings of local law enforcers.

Two days ago, Łukašenka said that more than 100 criminal cases have been opened in 2024 across Belarus over livestock mismanagement.

He said that veterinarians and local farm managers in Lubań, Minsk region, allegedly approved the sale of dead cattle meat to the public.

Alcoholism in rural areas leads to more injuries and fires at workplace, he said, calling on officials to apply the harshest penalties for “blatant irresponsibility, negligence and recklessness.”