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Automatically translated version. May contain inaccuracies compared to the original.
Reform of the SAPO: decline in performance indicators and risk of the re-certification being disrupted.
After Tsivinsky was appointed director of the SAPO 6 August 2025, a new phase of reforming the Bureau began, with one of the key tasks being the re-certification of employees.
According to Law of Ukraine No. 3840-IX, the certification must be completed within 18 months from the appointment of the new director, that is, by 6 February 2027, except for certain cases provided by law.
At the same time, the Bureau’s performance results are so far showing a negative trend.
Over the nine months of 2026 compared to the same period of 2025:
• the number of registered criminal proceedings - –23,7%;
• the number of criminal offenses in which suspects were notified - –30,2%;
• the number of criminal offenses referred to court - –40,7%;
• the number of criminal offenses referred to court with an indictment - –49,2%.
Such a significant drop in indicators could be explained by a large-scale personnel overhaul of the Bureau, dismissals, and the conduct of re-certification.
However, the problem is that the re-certification itself has also come under threat of disruption.
Of the 1301 employees who worked at the start of the new director’s term, 467 were dismissed.
At the same time, only 160 people have passed the certification, of whom 101 passed successfully and 59 failed.
Another 858 employees remain uncertified.
Among them 742 persons, or 86%, were appointed before the arrival of the new director.
In addition, 341 employee from among the detectives, analysts, and their supervisors has still not passed the certification.
To complete the re-certification by 6 February 2027 and to comply with the requirements of the Law, it is necessary to conduct at least 12–13 interviews daily, or over 60 per week.
At the same time, even under an optimistic forecast, by the statutory deadline it will be possible to certify only 300–320 people.
Thus more than 530 employees risk remaining uncertified.
The situation is further complicated by the fact that the first certification commission, after the last interviews on 2 October 2026, announced the suspension of its work, although the certification procedure has not yet been completed.
A significant decline in the Bureau’s performance indicators could be explained by the reform and the personnel overhaul.
However, there are serious problems here as well: the re-certification has effectively come under threat of disruption, and completing it for all employees covered by the general deadline by 6 February 2027 at the current pace is impossible.
As a result, we have both a serious deterioration in law enforcement performance and a real threat of failing to complete one of the main tasks of the Bureau’s reform within the statutory deadlines.
Failures on all fronts.
P.S. the figures cited in the post the SAPO director plans to announce at an upcoming meeting with partners, public organizations, and donors of the so‑called reform.
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