Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko announced today his intention to fire regional police chiefs and abolish the state traffic patrol according to the Interfax news agency. At an Interior Ministry meeting in Kyiv, Yushchenko said the police practice of exploiting motorists with speed cameras has "discredited" the agency.

"I warned the ministers, three times, that if traffic cops kept hiding in the bushes with speed cameras, there will be no State Road Patrol Service in this country," Yushchenko said. "A reform concept will be adopted at the next session of the National Security and Defense Council."

The 23,000 member traffic police ranked as the most corrupt of state agencies in a recent poll. Earlier this year, the former Soviet Republic of Georgia fired its entire traffic police force because of similar corruption concerns.

"You have discredited this agency. This is why I have made a decision that from now on, there will be no State Road Patrol Service in Ukraine," the president said.