LEGAL UNCERTAINTY IN THE LAW OF UKRAINE «ON THE NATIONAL POLICE»: A FUZZY-LOGIC APPROACH TO THE ANALYSIS OF EVALUATIVE CONCEPTS

Abstract

The article examines the problem of legal uncertainty in the Law of Ukraine “On the National Police” through the application of a fuzzy-logic approach to the analysis of evaluative legal concepts used in law enforcement activity. It is emphasized that the legal regulation of police powers contains a significant number of categories whose content cannot be fully determined by means of classical binary logic. Such concepts as «public safety and order», «urgent necessity», «necessary measures», «sufficient grounds», «proportionality», «effectiveness», «possible harm», and «immediate threat to life» require contextual interpretation and assessment of specific factual circumstances. The article substantiates that legal uncertainty in the field of police activity should not be regarded solely as a defect of legislative technique. In many cases, it reflects the complexity and dynamism of law enforcement practice, which depends on the level of threat, the conduct of a person, the intensity of resistance, the availability of alternative measures, the urgency of response, and the possible impact on human rights. At the same time, excessive vagueness of evaluative concepts may lead to inconsistent interpretation of legal norms, subjectivity in the application of police measures, and risks of unjustified restriction of human rights and freedoms. The authors propose to consider fuzzy logic as an auxiliary methodological tool for structuring the analysis of evaluative concepts in the Law of Ukraine «On the National Police». This approach makes it possible to describe legal phenomena not only through the categories «lawful» or «unlawful», «permissible» or «impermissible», but also through intermediate degrees of manifestation of a certain legal feature. The article demonstrates that evaluative concepts may be represented as linguistic variables with such levels as low, medium, high, or critical. This can contribute to improving the transparency of legal reasoning, reducing the risk of arbitrary interpretation, and ensuring a more balanced relationship between the needs of public safety and guarantees of human rights. Further research may focus on the development of applied fuzzy-logic models for assessing the necessity, proportionality, effectiveness, and admissibility of police measures in typical law enforcement situations.