Two female officers of Astana's tourist police who were fired after dancing with an Egyptian blogger will not be reinstated. Deputy Interior Minister Igor Lepekha said a disciplinary commission found such behavior incompatible with the requirements for police officers on duty, reports infohub.kz.
According to Lepekha, he considers the dismissal of the officers justified.
"The commission found that their actions violated at least official ethics and the requirements for police officers' conduct. It's not right for some bloggers or non-bloggers to carry officers who are on duty, in uniform, in their arms and all that. Maybe we are conservative people, but we believe that a police officer cannot behave like that. And the disciplinary commission decided that it would be better to dismiss these women and let them perhaps find themselves somewhere in culture," Igor Lepekha said at a government briefing, answering journalists' questions.
At the same time, the deputy minister noted that the police should be open and interact with society. However, he said, this does not mean that officers on duty are allowed any informal behavior.
"An officer must, first of all, see the needs of a citizen and respond to those needs. Roughly speaking, if a crime has been committed, solve it as quickly as possible, or, if he is on duty, prevent it from happening. That, after all, is probably our main job. But if we dance, sing songs there — well, hardly. Maybe somewhere outside work — by all means, please," he added.
Earlier, Kursiv reported that two officers of Astana's tourist police were dismissed after a video with Egyptian travel blogger Ahmed Haggagovic spread on social media. In the footage, the girls in uniform made several dance moves with the blogger, and he lifted one of them in his arms and spun her around. After an internal review, the Astana Police Department announced a violation of norms.