Latvian police officer dismissed for misconduct toward crime victim

The State Police has made decisions on three officials following a repeated internal investigation into a case revealed by the TV3 program “Bez Tabu” in Jelgava. One officer has been dismissed from service, another has received a reprimand, and the third has been given a remark, LETA learned at the State Police.

In March, Police Chief Armands Ruks ordered a repeated check after the program aired information about unethical and unacceptable conduct by certain police officers. Ruks said at the time that, based on what was shown, including one officer’s attitude and communication with a journalist, it was absolutely clear that such people had no place in the State Police.

The program reported on a Jelgava resident named Raitis, a victim in a criminal process, who received a phone call from a police officer working in Jelgava who appeared to be intoxicated. The victim recorded the video call. The officer tried to question him about the case. Raitis said that initially one person spoke, but in the background he recognized the voice of the case supervisor, who was whispering what to say. Two other police officers were with the caller.

The program also stated that one of the officers had previously detained Raitis unlawfully and, possibly to protect a person he knew, fabricated a criminal case against him. Later it turned out that Raitis had been the victim, and the person the officer tried to protect admitted this; that person now faces sanctions. The officer himself faced trouble for dishonest police work.

Raitis expressed outrage about how the police obtained his data and phone number. He believes the officers either tried to obtain information for themselves or to scare him into dropping the case.