Law Journal of the National Academy of Internal Affairs

An investigation into the illegal crossing of the Ukrainian border outside of the border crossing points causes a lot of difficulties due to the organization of their execution, conspiracy, and the existence of links with citizens of other states. It is noted that criminal proceedings on illegal transfer of persons across the state border of Ukraine are complicated both from the point of view of legal analysis and from the point of pre-trial investigation. This is to a large extent explained by the nature of the methods of committing, which entail the destruction of many traces of a criminal offense, the organization and conspiracy of wrongful acts, the knowledge of offenders of the peculiarities and deficiencies in the system of protection and crossing the border at its separate sections, the difficulties of conducting separate investigatory (search) the lack of sufficient number of investigators and specialists with special knowledge and skills to investigate this category of proceedings, etc. It is noted that disclosure and investigation of criminal offenses of this category requires the wider use of special knowledge for obtaining evidence with the help of specialists. Therefore, in order to ensure the effectiveness of the site review, it is advisable to attract specialists. It is especially important that the specialist who provides assistance to the investigator in the review of the site of the event, had not only special knowledge in a particular field, but also sufficient skills for their application in practice. It was concluded that close interaction between the police and the Border Guard units in terms of mutual timely information on identifying the signs of illegal transfer (preparation) of persons across the state border of Ukraine beyond the border crossing points will allow to conduct investigative (search) actions more effectively while investigating this type of criminal offenses. Considering the features of attracting a specialist to the review of the place of the event connected with illegal crossing of the border outside the border crossing points, it is noted that the tactics of the inspection and fixing of the place of the event, regardless of the legal consolidation, does not change, but due to the lack of involvement of specialists and insufficient use of technical and forensic means, not all evidence is detected, withdrawn and investigated, especially at the initial stage of the investigation. In addition, during the creation of the SOG for the review of the scene, it should be taken into account that one of its members has sufficient experience in conducting firstclass investigatory (search) actions in the investigation of criminal offenses of this category.