Today Ukraine celebrates the National Police Day for the first time.

I want to congratulate police officers on their professional holiday!

President Petro Poroshenko said that the new police are a symbol of irreversible changes in the state. I totally agree with him.

Over the past year, people’s trust in police officers - paradoxically after the events on the Maidan - has completely risen from the negative value to 46%. This means that almost half the population trusts the police, and therefore can feel secure in this difficult time. Currently, the police are functioning in 32 cities of Ukraine.

And again with the forming of new law enforcement structure was quite clear that reform would not come quietly. First, competition for one place in the ranks of the National Police averaged 18 people, depending on the region. The recruits themselves and people were expecting rapid and radical changes after the formation of the police. But it was clear that we would see slander and disappointment resulting from police actions, and not all police officers would meet the expectations of an honest and brave police officer. And we saw all this during the last year.

Reforms are never easy, and especially the reform of the structure, which was and partly remains a symbol of corruption and bribability. It takes a long time before confidence in the police will be complete. But the first step has already been made and the first results are already evident.