Terorizmo grėsmė kaip teisėsaugos institucijų integraciją skatinantis veiksnys

Abstract

The article considers influence of terrorist threat as an international challenge to the Lithuanian national security towards management of law enforcement institutions and possible changes in their legal status. A thesis is raised stating that due to fight against terrorism and other threats to national security, the trend for centralisation and strengthening of law enforcement emerges, activities related to intelligence and counter-intelligence are getting increasingly active. Trend of centralisation conditions the strengthening of the so-called “power structures“, their legal development, enables greater influence towards the political structures and weakens possibilities for their parliamentary control. In turn, it can raise a greater danger of infringements of human rights and freedoms (in particular the right to private life and family life). Opportunities and conditions for centralisation and decentralisation of the system of law enforcement institutions are being analysed. Appropriate conclusions and recommendations are being presented. It is stated in the conclusions that law enforcement institutions have a specific role in preventing terrorist threats. The institutions in question carry out measures of anti-terrorism and intelligence, guard objects of potential terrorist threat, investigate terrorist acts, seek to disclose organisers and perpetrators. In such case the state has to undertake to strike balance between measures that law enforcement and military forces employ to combat threats and dangers to the national security, and standards for protection of human rights. If the legislation is being drafted hastily and in bad quality, a number of irreversible mistakes is usually made. Moreover, legislation is usually drafted and adopted on the basis of expedience, while paying little attention to legitimacy and other Constitutional principles. However, such a tradition of legislature should not be applied to the legislation that is related to enforcement and protection of human rights, since human rights are to be treated as one of the fundamental Constitutional virtues related to the aims of the State and to its existential purpose. A conclusion is also drawn that Lithuania as a small unitary state should favour a model of centralised management of law enforcement, where law enforcement (except for courts and prosecutors) is coordinated and administered in a centralised way, i.e. all the system of law enforcement is managed from a unified centre. However, such model should be developed by integrating law enforcement institutions. It is also proposed in the conclusions that the Code on Law Enforcement should be adopted encompassing not only the issues of establishment of law enforcement institutions and their national administration but also issues of their administrative and operative action.