Minister of Public Security: Saving 1,000 billion VND after eliminating 6 general departments

Speaking at the National Conference summarizing the Party building work in 2018 and deploying tasks for 2019, which took place on the morning of January 18, Minister of Public Security To Lam mentioned the requirements, goals, and nature of the arrangement of the apparatus and cadres associated with Party building work in the People's Public Security force according to Resolution 18.

There was no headquarters for 36 years.

Minister To Lam said that, implementing the direction and strategy on streamlining the organizational apparatus to be lean, effective and efficient, the Ministry of Public Security has proposed the motto "Sleek Ministry, strong province, comprehensive district, grassroots commune".

The Minister emphasized that changes in thinking, working style, and working methods are very important to contribute to improving the effectiveness and efficiency of the apparatus, not just changing the apparatus. The arrangement does not change the functions and tasks of the Ministry but ensures that the organizational apparatus operates effectively. To implement this approach, we set out two major tasks: not organizing intermediate levels and bringing regular forces down to the grassroots level.

Regarding the lack of an intermediate level organization - the General Department, according to Mr. To Lam, in 72 years of formation and development, half of the time the Ministry of Public Security had a General Department, and half of the time there was no General Department. The General Department structure originated from the policy of building a core unit to separate the two Ministries: the Ministry of Security and the Ministry of Public Security in charge of the Police force.

“During the reform process, there was a time when the Ministry of Public Security had 8 general departments, then reduced them to 6 general departments. At the local level, the Security Command Board and the Police Command Board of these 2 general departments were implemented for several years but were found to be too cumbersome and complicated, so they had to be dissolved. In the end, only the Ministry remained at the general department level.” However, according to Mr. To Lam, this is an intermediate level, not an administrative level, so it cannot relate to the Ministry, industry, and local levels, and cannot direct even the local level.

Mr. To Lam also said that strengthening the force to stay close to the grassroots is important because all security and order issues originate from the grassroots. Therefore, if the police force and grassroots authorities focus on proactively resolving people's concerns, conflicts, and difficulties, eliminating all conditions for crime to arise from the grassroots, it will contribute to preventing criminal cases from forming.

Saving 1,000 billion VND after restructuring the apparatus

Regarding the results of the organizational arrangement and staff arrangement, Mr. To Lam said that, based on the research results of Project 106 on the arrangement of the apparatus to solve two core issues: eliminating the intermediate level and strengthening the grassroots level, the Central Public Security Party Committee has advised the Politburo on Resolution 22 to continue to innovate and arrange the organizational apparatus in a streamlined and effective direction; advised and proposed the Government to issue Decree 01 on the functions, tasks and organizational structure of the Ministry of Public Security.

Accordingly, at the local level, the police are organized at 4 levels, and initially regular police are assigned to take on the positions of commune police.

The arrangement of staff is basically stable, meeting work requirements, strictly implementing the principle that the Provincial Police Director and district police chief must not be local people.

Mr. To Lam also said that according to the announcement of the Ministry of Finance, the restructuring of the Ministry of Public Security's apparatus has saved 1,000 billion VND, not only in terms of economic efficiency, but more importantly, the restructuring of the apparatus and resources ensures the completion of tasks.

According to Mr. To Lam, the new organizational apparatus that has come into operation has ensured the comprehensive leadership of the Party, without causing interruption or disruption in the performance of the functions and tasks of the police at all levels, and not allowing a single day or hour for the people to go without service.

To achieve initial results, the Public Security sector must overcome many difficulties during the implementation process. The reorganization process has created problems in the legal basis, which, if not handled properly, will become obstacles and slow down the implementation. The arrangement, reorganization, and reduction of the leadership and command team encounter many difficulties because of the large apparatus. The implementation of policies and regimes, the stabilization of the thoughts and feelings of officers and soldiers in the reorganized and dissolved units. In new units, with a new way of thinking, when immediately converting to that model, there are also many difficulties.

At the Conference, Minister To Lam also informed that in order to ensure good police personnel participating in Party committees at all levels for the 2020-2025 term, participating in the 13th Central Executive Committee, in the 2019-2020 period, about 55 Provincial Police Directors are well prepared to prepare for the organization of Congresses at all levels, which will be held from the beginning of 2020./.

“Reducing 3,000-5,000 cases each year means that each year at least that many families will not have someone in prison and that many families will not have someone being harmed, while also reducing prisons, staff and many other problems,” Mr. To Lam said about the goal of reducing the crime rate by 5% by 2020.