English Moscow Cops

From MT: 
"Cops Offered Bonuses for Speaking Foreign Languages"

Police chiefs are rolling out incentives and opportunities for cops on the Red Square beat to study English, a skill that will certainly win applause from the hordes of tourists that throng the area. Police officers patrolling the square and Moscow's other pedestrian areas will receive additional pay if they can master phrases in English, Moscow City police chief Anatoly Yakunin said Thursday. "It's our principled position, and we will definitely do this in the course of the year," he said, Interfax reported. Yakunin said the opportunity to develop multilingual police officers appeared after acting Mayor Sergei Sobyanin allotted a separate budget for police bonuses in a decree Tuesday. The city police force is on the lookout for English-speaking officers to staff the downtown precincts, Yakunin said. It is also considering offering language courses. "It's a must that we post officers who speak foreign languages to the central district's pedestrian areas in the span of a year," he said.

^ This only makes sense considering that most other Russians don't speak English (or any foreign language) and most non-Russians don't speak Russians. If they can find people who can speak English then they should pay them extra - I had a hard time doing so even in tourist places like airports, train stations and information booths. ^

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/cops-offered-bonuses-for-speaking-foreign-languages/485235.html