From the BBC:
“Russia police crisis: Burned out, disappointed and demoralized”
In the early hours of 14 January 2020, blood-curdling screams
could be heard at an apartment block in the Russian region of Kemerovo. Shocked
and scared, a resident called the police to report what sounded like an attack
on a woman. But no-one came. The screaming continued, alongside loud bangs and
cries for help. Six more calls were made to emergency services but still no
police officers arrived. Neighbours, now fearing the worst, decided to take
matters into their own hands and broke into the apartment by smashing down the
door. But it was too late. The screaming had stopped. The woman was dead.
Warning: this story contains details that some people may
find upsetting.
Police fail to answer calls Vera Pekhteleva had been stabbed
multiple times, beaten and strangled with an iron cord by her ex-boyfriend in
an attack that lasted three-and-a-half hours. At the time, police said there
were no officers or patrol cars in the area to attend. But later, five officers
were found guilty of causing death by negligence and were sentenced to 18
months in jail, suspended for two years. The court said the sentences, which
were seen by many as lenient, were appropriate because officer shortages were a
problem for "the whole force". Russia has one of the largest police
forces in the world, employing over 900,000 officers to serve a population of
146 million, according to the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs. It has
nearly 630 officers per 100,000 people - more than double the US or the UK. But
in August, Interior Ministry Chief Vladimir Kolokoltsev said the country had a
"critical" shortage of police officers, which could affect crime
rates. How can that be the case, given the sheer number of officers?
Poor wages, stress and corruption Russia's sprawling geography and a
lack of back-office support staff are partly to blame. But recent problems stem
from a massive drop in police numbers - and many of those leaving are
experienced officers. Many former Russian police officers have told the
BBC they are leaving the force and opting for less stressful jobs which are
better paid. “They haven't adjusted the salary at all," a former
officer from Rostov, in southwest Russia, said. "After inflation and the
new prices, it's not enough." He quit to become a taxi driver. His
friend, who was also a police officer, is now a courier. Both of them
earn twice as much as they did as police officers. "I reached the
rank of major (the equivalent to a sergeant in the UK). But still a person
working at a supermarket earned more than me - hardly dangerous work. Only an
idiot would join the police now," the former officer from Rostov said.
The BBC has found that overstretched police forces are now
refusing to open cases, even after a statement has been provided. “Everyone
gets 10 days to examine statements, whether there are five or 50, so obviously,
the quality of work deteriorates," argues one detective from the Siberian
region of Russia. "If there's a string of 10 or so things they must do -
call on neighbours, cross-examine witnesses, visit the crime-scene - they'll
just do one or two, and write down that it 'wasn't possible' to complete the
others. "Then they refuse to open charges - so there will be no
investigation," he says. As the number of officers drops, the pressures on
those who remain increase. Former officers have told the BBC this is leading to
corruption. "Officers are beating confessions out of people, inflating
arrest quotas, we're seeing this all the time," says a police major from
the Russian city of Tomsk. "It's only going to get worse. There will be
falsification of evidence, targeted beatings, there just isn't going to be time
to investigate anything properly. "You've got a lead and you need to chase
it? Much simpler to drag the first suspect back to the station and beat him up,
so he takes the blame."
Some officers are getting locked up for their actions -
further thinning the force. This happened to Sergei, a former police officer of
six years, jailed for beating a drug dealer. Sergei says he felt pressure to
arrest the dealer and only hit him when he was about to eat his drugs to
conceal the evidence. He also tells the BBC that police resources were so thin
he had to pay for work essentials himself. "I was using my own car, I
bought my own paper, cartridges and printer; my own computer, my desk, my
chair, my petrol… I laid my own floor tiles [in the office], repaired
everything." A former officer from central Russia says that vacant
positions have gone unfilled for a long time. "There's been a shortage for
ages. I started in 2015, and only two people have joined our team in the last
eight years, while 15 have left." And according to several BBC sources,
including two sergeants and one major, the Interior Ministry carried out a
purge of officers who were linked to the opposition politician, Alexei Navalny,
who has been held in a remote penal colony since 2021. Long-serving,
experienced officers were fired in this purge. One source said the Moscow
Federal Security Service compiled a list of Navalny supporters based on a
hacked database of email addresses.
The impact of the war in Ukraine The number of police officers in
Russia was declining before the start of the war in Ukraine. Initially,
the war convinced some officers to stay in the force. Russian police officers
are exempt from being called up for military duty, so some officers who were on
the verge of resigning when Russia invaded Ukraine told us they kept their jobs
to avoid fighting. "Either you sat tight, or you left and got
drafted," explains one officer from Moscow. "I know there were
managers who made a list of everyone who'd threatened to quit and passed it
straight to the [army] recruiters. Everyone was pretty scared." But
as the war rumbles on, police numbers are dwindling. The force cannot fill
existing gaps - let alone recruit the 40,000 extra personnel that the Interior
Ministry says is needed in Donetsk and Luhansk, areas of Ukraine that Russia
partly occupies. Putin claimed a win after holding so-called referendums
in the Russian-held regions of Ukraine in September 2022. But the polls were
denounced as a sham by Ukraine's government and its allies. Russia
predicts it will need another 42,000 officers by 2026 if it occupies further
territories.
For serving police officers, having an opinion about the war
is simply not allowed. They are not even allowed to call it a war. "Officers
must keep their mouths shut," one detective says. "We can't have
personal views about the 'special military operation' - or they'll fire
us." The BBC has also been told officers are burning out because of extra
paperwork brought on by the war. Interior Ministry officials from the three
Russian cities of Tomsk, Yekaterinburg and Yaroslavl claim they now spend most
of their time investigating and revising "endless charges against people
discrediting the army". "People are always looking for an excuse to
denounce someone," a former major from Tomsk says. "There's nobody
around... Everyone's gone to check on some grandma who saw a curtain that
looked like the Ukrainian flag. "I see where we're heading," he says.
"There's already an emphasis on crimes against the state. Going forward,
more cases will fall into this category," he predicts. "As for real
problems affecting ordinary people? Kidnap, robbery, rape, murder… there won't
be time to investigate."
^ Friends, Family Members and Strangers across Russia are
resorting to old Soviet ways and denouncing anyone and everyone - even making
many things up - just because they have a score to settle with someone else.
It is a major problem in Moscow and Saint Petersburg, but
also in other places like Yaroslavl.
I don't feel sorry for these overworked and underpaid Police
Officers (as I would for Police Officers in the US, etc.) because they are just
Putin's Minions and helping him commit crimes inside Russia while the Russian
Military commits crimes outside of Russia.
You don't feel sorry for the Gestapo, the German Regular
Police or the German Military in Nazi Germany and how overworked they were and
you shouldn't feel sorry for in this case in Nazi Russia. ^
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