Detention of a Person Who Has Committed a Crime in the Activities of the Internal Affairs Bodies of the Russian Federation

In the article, the author examines the multifaceted legal nature of such an element of law enforcement activity as detention. This act is the most common means of involving a person who has committed an illegal act in the activities of law enforcement agencies. Moreover, we are talking not only about detention as a measure of procedural coercion regulated by the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation, but also detention within the framework of administrative activities of police officers. If we turn to the etymology of the term “detain”, we will see its imperative character: “…to prevent the movement of someone, to force them to stay somewhere” which emphasizes the repressive nature of this action in relation to the person who committed the illegal act. Having analyzed the current regulatory legal acts and the opinions of various scientists, the author comes to the conclusion that today there are three aspects of detention: criminal law, administrative and criminal procedure. In addition, some authors single out police detention, which is similar in appearance to criminal procedure, but at the same time has an administrative character. These provisions cause difficulties in the exercise of their powers by law enforcement officers, which negatively affects their effectiveness in combating criminals. The issue concerning the initial stage of procedural detention is considered. It is noted that in practice there is no unambiguous approach to solving this problem, the provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation do not fully correspond to reality. Procedural scientists still have different approaches regarding the actual and procedural aspects of detention, since they are separated in a temporary aspect and at the same time differ in the procedural activities of the person conducting the preliminary investigation. The author also identified the subjects covered by the provision of the article regulating harm during the detention of a person who committed a crime and analyzed the various points of view of scientists on this issue.