A day after naming his deputies, new Interior Minister Irakli Garibashvili appointed new head of the Patrol Police Department on October 31.

Davit Tsinaridze, who worked for the Interior Ministry in 1997-2005, will lead the Patrol Police Department, which is the most visible police unit whose officers conduct vehicle and foot patrols and are in charge of traffic enforcement, stopping violence, taking crime reports, protecting public order.

Tsinaridze, 40, was deputy head of the Patrol Police during its first year of existence in 2004-2005, when the department was newly established replacing its notoriously corrupt predecessor traffic police. Tsinaridze worked as a consultant to a judge in the Tbilisi Court of Appeals since 2006.

“Creation of the Patrol Police is joint achievement of our people,” Interior Minister, Irakli Garibashvili, said while naming new head of the Patrol Police Department. “It's up to each and every one of us to maintain it and to further develop it.”

“I want to instruct the new head of the department and each and every patrol police officer to stay implacable against any sign of illegality and to protect order, rights and freedoms of our citizens,” Garibashvili said.