Criminal Investigation Department Employees Day in Ukraine Date in the current year: April 15, 2024

Criminal investigation is the study of facts used to inform criminal trials. It includes search and seizure, interrogations, interviews, the collection and preservation of evidence, and other investigation methods and techniques, which are known collectively as forensic science or criminalistics.

In most of the world, criminal investigations are usually carried out by government police forces. The branch of a police force responsible for criminal investigations is usually referred to as the Criminal Investigation Department.

The history of modern criminal investigation in Ukraine began during the Soviet era. A decree issued by the Council of People’s Commissars of the Ukrainian SSR on April 15, 1919 proposed the establishment of the criminal investigation department in the People’s Commissariat of Justice and the creation of local criminal police (militsiya) departments.

In February 1920, the functions of the criminal investigation department was transferred to the People’s Commissariat for Internal Affairs (NKVD). Two months later, new criminal investigation departments were created in Ukrainian cities and towns with a population of over 40,000. They were subordinate to the Central Criminal Investigation Department of the Main Militsiya of the Ukrainian SSR.

In 1922, the criminal investigation apparatus became independent from militsitya and subordinate to the Central Criminal Investigation Department of the Ukrainian SSR. After the formation of the Soviet Union, Ukrainian criminal investigation system underwent a series of transformations and reforms.

Following the independence of Ukraine, the Main Directorate of Criminal Investigation was created in the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine. In 2002, it was reorganized into the Criminal Investigation Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

Finally, during the 2015 police reform the Criminal Investigation Department became part of the Ukrainian criminal police alongside the Migration Police Department, the Operations Department, the Department of Operational and Technical Measures, the Criminal Analysis Department, the Department for the Protection of the Interests of Society and the State, and others.

The main tasks of the Criminal Investigation Department are the detection and investigation of crimes, search for perpetrators, and documentation of illegal activities of members of organized gangs and criminal organizations. Like all other departments of the National Police, it seeks to protect the rights and freedoms of all people living in Ukraine.

The celebration of Criminal Investigation Department Employees Day was initiated by the Main Directorate of Criminal Investigation of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine. The holiday was officially established by Minister of Internal Affairs Yuriy Kravchenko in 1998 and has been celebrated annually ever since.