The current stage of development of Russian society requires the adoption of comprehensive and urgent measures to strengthen the rule of law and the fight against all types of crime. In this aspect, the activation and effectiveness of the operational units, on the actions of which the identification, prevention, suppression and successful investigation of crimes, is of great importance. Detective-search measures play a key role in the detection and timely disclosure of particularly serious crimes that cause tremendous damage to citizens and a threat to stability in the state as a whole.
Without the implementation of this set of measures, it often does not seem possible to realize the objectives of criminal proceedings. First of all, it is worth talking here about crimes of an unobvious and latent nature and about activities carried out by organized criminal groups. The share of such illegal activities in the structure of Russian crime is extremely large.
Types of operational-search measures include a complex multi-level complex of various investigative actions. Such as a survey of citizens in order to obtain the necessary information; inquiries, including queries to a variety of databases; collection of various samples for research and comparative analysis; detection, seizure and study of objects and traces of crime; secret surveillance with the help of hidden technical means of operational photo and video shooting. This may also include wiretapping with the appropriate sanction.
Detective activity has a number of tactical features. For example, the use of all kinds of camouflage techniques, the legend of an operational officer to introduce him into a criminal group. Naturally, operational-search measures in which such tactical methods are used require a real assessment and consideration of all related circumstances, such as those existing in a social group or layer of customs, norms of behavior, rules and habits. All this requires careful study and the highest professionalism of the implemented employee. It should be noted here that legending is one of the fundamental methods on which any operational-search measures are based when it comes to liquidating organized crime groups.
The fundamental possibilities for using operational data during the investigation and in making judicial decisions are laid down at the legislative level and are clearly regulated by the Code of Criminal Procedure itself. Often during some investigative actions, the entire evidence base consists of data and factual material obtained by operational-search methods. Often, the basis for such investigative actions as confrontations is also operational information.
It is important to remember that operational-search measures, due to their specifics, always balance on the verge of not only the law, but also universal human norms and moral principles. Sometimes this line is so unsteady and ephemeral that one wrong step may be enough to be below the line of law and morality. In this case, a lot depends on the clarity of the legislative framework and strict observance of the relevant articles of the Constitution and the Criminal Code, and, perhaps even more importantly, on the moral and ethical qualities of operational employees.