Situations related to the activities of employees of territorial picking centers (TCC) are increasingly becoming the subject of discussions and disputes in society. One of the most pressing topics is the actions of TCC representatives during car stops or other contacts with citizens. It is not uncommon for people to face a misunderstanding of their rights, get confused in the legislation and do not know how to act correctly in such situations. This creates a wave of indignation, fear and mistrust.
What to do if you are stopped on the road? Do TCC employees have the right to check documents or serve a summons? How to respond to actions that seem questionable? Lawyers from the “Repeshko and Partners” Bar Association commented on how to behave with TCC employees, and also provided answers to the most common questions of citizens.
In connection with the latest events in the country regarding mobilization, citizens have a lot of questions, the main of which is: what exactly is the TCC and SP entitled to do, and what is not included in its powers? Knowing your rights is the first step to avoiding conflicts and wrongdoing. Let’s start with the fact that the activities of TCCs and joint ventures are regulated by the Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine dated February 23, 2022. No. 154 “On the approval of the Regulation on territorial centers of recruitment and social support”. According to him, the TCC and SP have many powers, but the main ones that directly concern citizens – conscripts are the following:
– interact with local state administrations on issues of enlisting citizens for military service and citizens undergoing alternative (non-military) service;
– keep military records of conscripts, conscripts and reservists, as well as records of citizens of Ukraine who have entered into a territorial defense volunteer contract, veterans of war and military service, and other persons,
– familiarize citizens of Ukraine with their rights and obligations during military registration, referral for basic military service, conscription for military service and military training,
– draw up and issue military registration documents to conscripts, conscripts and reservists;
– interact with local state administrations, other state bodies, local self-government bodies on matters of military registration of conscripts, conscripts and reservists, reservation of conscripts for the period of mobilization and for wartime;
– carry out advertising and campaigning work among the population for recruitment to military service under a contract, service in the military reserve, admission to higher military educational institutions or military educational units of higher education institutions;
– carry out campaigning, selection, study, document preparation of candidates for military service under contract, including officers, and their referral to military units, training military units (centers);
– carry out notification and conscription measures for citizens (except conscripts and reservists of the SBU and intelligence agencies): for military service by conscription of officers; for military service by conscription of reservists in a special period (enrolled in the military operational reserve); for military service by conscription during mobilization, for a special period (regardless of their place of stay in the military register);
– carry out photo and video recording of the process of presenting and checking documents using technical devices and means of photo and video recording, and can also use technical devices, tools and specialized software with access to the Register (except for employees of the SBU and intelligence agencies of Ukraine, conscripts conscripts and reservists who are on their military records);
– provide commanders of military units with information about conscripts who are on military registration,
– issue certificates to citizens on completion of military service, in particular on the period of participation in hostilities for inclusion in seniority
– appeal to the National Police or its territorial units to provide information about conscripts about criminal liability, absence (presence) of a criminal record;
– apply in accordance with the procedure established by law to the authorities of the National Police regarding the delivery to territorial centers of recruitment and social support of persons who have committed administrative offenses provided for in Articles 210, 2101 Code of Ukraine on administrative offenses;
– consider cases (around the clock during mobilization and/or during martial law) on administrative offenses and impose administrative penalties in accordance with and in compliance with the Code of Ukraine on Administrative Offenses;
Territorial recruitment and social support centers have the right to carry out (during the period of mobilization (except for targeted) measures to check the military registration documents of male citizens aged 18 to 60 years.
In addition, district territorial centers of recruitment and social support:
– register conscripts to conscription stations;
– distribute conscripts during their registration at conscription stations and conscription for basic military service;
– organize and carry out professional and psychological screening of citizens during registration at the conscription station, conscription for military service, service in the military reserve, selection of candidates for military service under a contract;
– take part in organizing and ensuring the work of district (city) conscription commissions, prepare materials for consideration by said commissions on sending Ukrainian citizens for basic military service, service in the military reserve, deferring or exempting them from being sent for basic military service, service in the military reserve;
– support the organization of medical examination, examination and treatment of conscripts by the draft commissions;
– carry out the formation of conscript teams for their organized dispatch to the assembly point of the TCC and SP;
– organize medical examinations and psychological examinations of conscripts and reservists by military medical commissions with a certain frequency (around the clock during mobilization and/or during martial law).
It should be noted that employees of the TCC have the right to serve summonses in any place where a conscript is. Since the law does not specify in which place the service of summons can take place, in fact it can take place in any public place. If it is established that a citizen violates the rules of military accounting, determined by the Procedure for the organization and maintenance of military accounting of conscripts, conscripts and reservists or the Law of Ukraine “On Mobilization Training and Mobilization”, identifying discrepancies of the military accounting document with the military accounting data of the Unified State Register conscripts, conscripts, reservists, the senior alert group offers the reservist or conscript to proceed to the district (city) TCC and SP for military registration, passing a medical examination to determine suitability for military service, clarifying personal data, military registration document data with military registration data of the Unified State Register of conscripts, conscripts, and reservists. For this purpose, a summons is drawn up and served to the citizen.
In case of refusal to proceed to the district (city) TCC and SP, a police officer who is part of the alert group conducts administrative detention and transport of the citizen to such a center based on Articles 261 and 262 of the Code of Ukraine on Administrative Offenses.
As you can see, there are no such powers among the TCCs and SPs:
– detention of a person;
– stopping the vehicle;
– seizure of personal belongings of a conscript;
– prohibition of a conscript to communicate with relatives, loved ones or a lawyer in person or by means of communication.
But, unfortunately, it is these actions that are usually used by TCCs and SPs to implement mobilization plans. The legal community has been sounding the alarm for a long time in connection with flagrant violations of the current legislation by employees of the TCC and JV, but still to no avail. It should be recognized that even lawyers are powerless in the fight for the rights of clients, because there are cases when a lawyer who went to help a person detained by the TCC and JV staff ended up with him at the training ground.
According to the legislation Resolution No. 560 of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine dated 16.05.2024 “On the approval of the procedure for approving the draft of citizens for military service during mobilization, for a special period” it is the police officers who are given the right to carry out administrative detention and delivery of conscripts to the nearest TCC and SP in the following cases:
- in the event that a person refused to receive a summons or violated the rules of military registration, according to this resolution, it is sufficient to detain only not to receive a summons, even if the military registration data are clarified;
- in case the person refused to proceed to the TCC and SP;
- in the event that the Unified State Register of conscripts, conscripts and reservists has information that the person has been declared wanted, and that information has been submitted to the National Police;
- in the event that the registers and data bases (banks) included in the unified information system of the Ministry of Internal Affairs contain information about the search for a person;
- in case the person who should have it does not have a military registration document.
Once again, we would like to note that for the specified reasons, detention and delivery to the TCC and SP can be carried out only by police representatives and in no case by employees of the TCC and SP! That is why representatives of these bodies usually act in symbiosis at checkpoints and improvised checkpoints.
These employees do not have the authority to detain a person and deliver him to the TCC and JV. It should be noted that delivery to the TCC and SP is something that should happen voluntarily, and at the same time, a person has the right to refuse to go anywhere, no matter who it is offered – by representatives of the TCC and SP or police officers. In contrast to delivery, as we see, the detention of a person must be carried out exclusively by police officers on the grounds available for this and cannot exceed three hours from the moment of detention.
Therefore, the representatives of TCC and JV can only offer you to go with them voluntarily. Since these are the representatives of the police, on the basis of the available grounds, when carrying out an administrative detention, they must not only draw up a report on such detention, but also, at the request of the detained person, provide him with a lawyer.
Regarding the stopping of a vehicle by a police officer, Article 35 of the Law of Ukraine “On the National Police” provides for a clear list of grounds for stopping a vehicle by a police officer, and it is carried out only in the case of:
– if the driver violated the Traffic Rules;
– if there are obvious signs indicating a technical malfunction of the vehicle;
– if there is information indicating the involvement of the driver or passengers of the vehicle in committing a traffic accident, criminal or administrative offense, or if there is information indicating that the vehicle or cargo may be an object or instrument of a traffic offense – traffic accident, criminal or administrative offense;
– if the vehicle is wanted;
– if it is necessary to interview the driver or passengers about the circumstances of the traffic accident, criminal or administrative offense, which they witnessed or could have witnessed;
– if it is necessary to involve the driver of the vehicle in providing assistance to other road users or policemen or as a witness during the preparation of protocols on administrative offenses or materials of traffic accidents;
– if the authorized body of state power has made a decision to restrict or prohibit movement;
– if the method of securing the load on the vehicle creates a danger for other road users;
– violation of the procedure for determining and using special light or sound signaling devices on the vehicle;
– if the stop of a vehicle registered in another country is carried out for the purpose of detecting its transfer into possession, use or disposal to persons who did not import such a vehicle into the customs territory of Ukraine or did not place it in the customs transit regime.
– if the person has external signs similar to the external signs of a person who is wanted, or a missing person, or has voluntarily left a place for keeping prisoners of war;
– if there is information that indicates that the driver or passenger of the vehicle is a person who voluntarily left the place for keeping prisoners of war.
Also, the police, in addition to the reasons listed above, have the right to stop a vehicle in the event of:
– the absence of a license plate on the vehicle or the presence of a license plate that does not meet the established requirements, fixed in a place not established for this purpose, covered by other objects or dirty, which does not allow to clearly identify the symbols of the license plate from a distance of twenty meters;
– availability of data on the use of a vehicle for an illegal purpose;
– carrying out targeted activities (operations, training, operational plans) for checking documents for the right to use and drive a vehicle, documents for a vehicle.
Our main recommendation – if you have doubts about the legality of the actions of TCC and SP employees or even police officers who are with them – call the police. Fixation of the violation of civil rights can not only positively affect the current situation, but also be useful in the future.
