Thesis presents a theoretical generalization and a new solution to the scientific task, which is to, based on the analysis of scientific views of scholars and the norms of the current legislation, to find out the essence and features of the legal regulation of incentives for employees of the National Police of Ukraine, on the basis of which to develop a number of proposals and recommendations, aimed at improving the norms of general and special labor legislation in the relevant field.
It is established that the encouragement of police officers in relation to official discipline is an integral part of the latter, an element of positive stimulation of the employee in order to ensure his compliance with all the rules and regulations stipulated by the law and internal labor regulations, as well as the official duties assigned to him.
It is argued that encouragement is most rationally and correctly perceived as a tool for ensuring labor or service discipline, that is, as an active method, means or way of carrying out a positive stimulating effect on the employee on the part of the employer.
It is proved that the encouragement of the employees of the National Police of Ukraine should be interpreted as a set of tools (methods, means and ways) with the help of which a positive stimulating influence is carried out on the employees of the police, and the use of which ensures the establishment and maintenance of official discipline in the bodies and units of the National Police, which as a result improves the quality of performance by police officers of their official duties.
It is noted that putting on the Board of Honor, as an incentive, differs from the early removal of a disciplinary sanction in that it does not affect the labor status of an employee of the National Police of Ukraine. This encouragement expresses a positive assessment by the management of the police body or unit of the police officer's work, however, it does not improve his legal position in any way. In other words, encouragement has an exclusively psychological meaning.
It is found that today the legislation of Ukraine establishes a large list of incentives that can be applied to police officers for various reasons in the context of their official activities. The analysis of each variety showed that all incentives differ among themselves, first of all, in terms of the consequences they carry for the police officer and his official and labor status. Thus, some incentives have a purely moral and psychological meaning, while others improve his financial status.
It is proven that the principles of applying incentives to the employees of the National Police are starting points, original ideas that reflect the patterns of formation and further development of relevant social relations. They have the highest imperative and their observance is mandatory for all subjects. It is the principles of legal regulation that guide and harmonize the entire mechanism of encouraging police officers, and serve as a kind of criterion for the legality and legitimacy of their application. Classification of relevant principles is carried out, on the basis of which they are divided into: 1) general legal; 2) special; and 3) specific.
The legal regulation of the application of incentives to the employees of the National Police of Ukraine is proposed to be understood as a legal influence on social relations, which are formed in the process of official and labor activities of police employees, carried out with the help of legal norms, with the aim of motivating them, increasing the level of legal awareness and improving the quality and efficiency of the performance of official duties. Therefore, the importance of the legal regulation of the application of incentives to police officers is determined by the fact that police officers must be aware that with conscientious and effective official work, they can count on incentives, which is a great stimulus for positive practical behavior of police officers during the performance of official duties.
It is proved that the specificity of the differentiation of the legal regulation of the application of incentives to the employees of the National Police is characterized by the fact that: firstly, the incentives applied to police officers are of a special nature; secondly, the incentive measures are of an exclusively individual nature, they cannot be applied, for example, to the staff of a body or unit of the National Police of Ukraine; thirdly, the differentiation of the legal regulation of the application of incentives to police officers is aimed at expanding the rights and guarantees of police officers official labor activity.
