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The drafts propose to provide the necessary legal prerequisites for the creation of a specialized unit of the Water Patrol Service in Gegharkunik region, which will be able to carry out a specialized patrol service on the surface of the lake and in the coastal area. The latter will differ from the implementation of the service on the land. The Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs Arpine Sargsyan said this during the NA sitting while reporting the package of draft laws on Making Addendum to the Law on Police and on Amending the Law on the State Regulation of Technical Security on May 23.

According to the Deputy Minister, certain rights should be provided for the Police, which the officers will be able to exercise on the spot.

The representative of the Ministry stated that the main functional base of the Water Patrol Service will be the maintenance of public order and the safety of the summer residents and other citizens in water basins and coastal areas - beaches, recreation areas, response to offenses and accidents, preventive fight against illegal fishing and hunting, prevention of unfortunate incidents in water basins and saving the drowning.

“Currently, we expect to have 4 main bases on Lake Sevan. We carried out admission in the Water Patrol Service, the main emphasis was placed on active patrolmen: we could not admit inexperienced people. We checked the swimming and diving capabilities of the applicants. Special training will be conducted for them in July-August,” Arpine Sargsyan stated.

The deputy of the Civil Contract Faction Gevorg Papoyan asked the Deputy Minister whether the service of scooters is controlled in any way, whether the summer resident has to get a driving license to ride it, if there is regulation or not?

“We have certain structures regarding the provision of the navigation license, but they are still far from being sufficient, we do not have developed procedures: the next step will be the regulation of the sub-legislative field,” the Deputy Minister said in response to the MP’s question.

Arpine Sargsyan also mentioned that the Water Patrol officers will monitor the raised issue.

The deputy of the Civil Contract Faction Alkhas Ghazaryan inquired from the Deputy Minister about the phase of material and technical saturation, in response to which Arpine Sargsyan said that the Ministry of Internal Affairs is currently in the process of summarizing the tender results.

“We aim to acquire high-quality water equipment. The patrol servicemen should be provided with appropriate equipment, Hopefully, the results will be available by July-August, and the official start of the work of the Water Patrol Service will be in October,” the Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs Arpine Sargsyan said.

“The draft creates a new and professional service. In the basin of the Lake Sevan, quite a lot of difficulties arise in the implementation of public order, detection, and prevention of crimes. Lake Sevan basin is a risky area in terms of mining and administrative offenses, that’s why the Government decided to create a specialized structure,” the Deputy Chair of the Standing Committee on Defense and Security Armen Khachatryan said during the related report.

The deputy informed that the draft was debated and endorsed in the Committee and asked to vote for it.