Policemen's sins made public

A former police officer now involved in the media is opening an online database of crimes committed by policemen. And his former colleagues are not in the least annoyed.

"Paturegister" (Estonian for sin register), which went online on Feb. 1, has about 600 registered users, including reporters who have the right to add stories to the register.

About 12,000 people have visited the site, at www.paturegister.ee, since its opening. The database available after registration has 1,500 entries, most of which can be found in Estonia's press archives.

The Estonian police department says Imre Termonen's project is a great civil initiative.

"For some reason people think we must be irritated. But if it can really improve the service of our state institution, it's great," Juri Merits, deputy director of the national police department, said.

He added that no database can contain more police officer sins than the one that belongs to the internal control service of the police department.

A crime committed by an officer has two levels. If it is done unintentionally, it is considered mercifully by senior police officials and the penalty is moderate. If it is a major fault, a police officer must quit.

Termonen says he knows the system first-hand. His name is also listed in the register, in connection with a traffic accident that happened in 1992, when his police car seriously injured a child on a bicycle. The child was hospitalized. A criminal case against him was concluded after a couple of years.

Termonen added that the 1,500 entries so far included in the online register make up just 15 percent of the site's total potential.

The most recent crime that involved a police officer was a traffic accident in Tallinn Feb. 2. According to Paturegister, 23-year-old Vladimir, an officer of the central criminal police, rammed his personal car into a post while drunk.

The policeman, who was taking a day off, escaped unharmed, but his passenger was hospitalized

One of the most tragic crimes a policeman has committed in Estonia happened last year, when Ants Pajumagi, then head of Viljandi traffic police, caused a traffic accident that killed a 20-year-old bicycle racer.

The intoxicated Pajumagi was driving a police car, and later tried to cheat by sending his son to the independent medical expert. The criminal case finally ended last week. Pajumagi got a suspended sentence of five years in jail and a 70,000 kroon ($4,100) fine.