Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has submitted a draft federal law on police to the lower house of parliament, the State Duma, the Kremlin reported on Wednesday.

The draft law was posted for public discussion in early August at www.zakonoproekt2010.ru in line with the Russian leadership's plans to reform the police. The text was placed on the web where the public was able to discuss the changes in the law. Some amendments were made to the original text after discussions were considered.

According to Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliyev, the new law will fix the law enforcement mission of the police, naming crime prevention its key purpose.

If passed, the law is to come into effect from March 2011.

The state of Russia's police has become a great concern after a number of high-profile police scandals, including the random shooting of several people in a supermarket by an off-duty police officer in April 2009.

In response to growing criticism, Medvedev ordered a large-scale police reform in December 2009, including cutting the number of policemen and increasing salaries.

MOSCOW, October 27 (RIA Novosti)