District police Commissioner and investigator: comparative legal analysis of powers at the stage of initiation of a criminal case
One of the ways to reform pre-trial proceedings is to offer the possibility of abolishing the stage of initiation of a criminal case. The reason for such proposals is a significant increase in non-procedural actions at the first stage of the process, the expansion of the circle of participants and the delegation of authority to make a decision on the initiation of a criminal case or refusal to initiate a criminal case to the body of inquiry. In the course of the study, it was found that the investigators of specialized units of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia accept for their production only if there is a comprehensive check indicating the presence of signs of a crime. If the grounds for refusal to initiate a criminal case are established, the district police commissioners are forced to make a decision on their own. The purpose of this study was to find out how the powers of the DPC and the investigator correlate at the stage of initiation of a criminal case and what trends there are in the practical bodies of criminal prosecution at the stage of initiation of a criminal case. It is the solution of the issue of the delimitation of the powers of the investigator of a specialized unit and the DPC that will help to eliminate disputes about the investigation, reduce the scope of powers of district police commissioners in criminal proceedings.