Minister for Internal Affairs Ts.Nyamdorj told the Standing Committee on Legislation on Monday that if money is available, the Government would prefer to hand over the job of border protection to regular soldiers, instead of to military trainees. The committee was discussing the draft Police Organization Law and decided to submit it to Parliament.

Deputy Director of General Police N.Enkh-Amgalan pleaded lack of resources to answer criticism of police work during the debate. MNT88 billion would be needed to upgrade the arms and equipments of police organization but the draft could allot only MNT3.2 billion. He admitted the police do not have the capacity and resources to tackle any protest by 10,000 or more people as happened on July 1, 2008.

MP Kh.Temuujin wondered why the Director of General Police, who is appointed and, if necessary, dismissed by the Prime Minister, should then report to the Minister for Internal Affairs. This was symptomatic of the confused operating system in the police. He then raised the issue of border military force, saying there was uncertainty about their status. “Are they policemen or troops? They shoot each other but the Defense Ministry says such things cannot happen if the ministry had control of border forces,” he said.

Nyamdorj clarified that the Government appoints as Director of Police, the person proposed by the Internal Ministry and also keeps control over his work.

Several MPs wanted police to be more citizen-friendly. Nyamdorj said the new law would improve the present situation by breaking the nexus between police and regional authorities. MP R.Gonchigdorj said the role of the policemen must be changed.