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Author Topic: Police Reform...or not  (Read 4169 times)

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Offline mendeleyev

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Police Reform...or not
« on: February 08, 2016, 10:00:59 AM »
For a time, I was feeling a tad more comfortable after some of the reforms in policing started during the Medvedev administration. Perhaps my enthusiasm was premature.

The Medvedev reforms began with renaming the police. Militsiya became полиция, "politsiya" which sounds more like how police are called across most parts of Europe. The next change involved traffic cams with officers being required to video any ticketing events, including the presentation of the ticket. As you can imagine, motorists rejoiced while police moaned, but the amount of corruption at the local level decreased dramatically.

Policing in Russia is done via a power structure that is top down: even police in the smallest and remote regions are governed from "the centre" (Moscow). Police belong to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, a cabinet level agency. The current Minister, Vladimir Kolokoltsev, is effectively the "police chief" of an entire nation.

So is reform really working? Two weeks ago there was the case of a man from the Caucasus region who was left in a pool of blood on a commuter train. Multiple witnesses on the train said that he was beaten by a group of young upper teenage men shouting nationalistic and racist slogans. There is an emergency call button in every train car (Russians call them "wagons") to summon help from the driver. In typical Russian fashion, the button didn't work.

Despite all the witness accounts, train police say that the man was not beaten; their report said that he was pushed and run over by kids who were fare-dodgers in a rush to avoid ticket collectors. The alleged "fare-dodgers" threw a gas canister into the train in order to gain more time to escape, quite an elaborate effort just to avoid paying for a ticket, not to mention that such a gas canister costs more than the tickets.

Next, why are we surprised that a prime suspect mysteriously disappeared from a police station after last Wednesday's assault on a Moscow office building? Over two dozen men, positively identified as Chechen men who work in Moscow's shadowy mafia "enforcement of business arrangements", stormed an office building with live weapons. The group overpowered security guards and 10 persons were wounded.

The assailants were well-known and quickly rounded up. One of the leaders, a known Chechen mafia enforcer, was detained (not arrested) and taken to a police station. But, in the "confusion" of booking those armed men, the ring-leader just disappeared. Apparently he was allowed to stroll out and hasn't been seen since.

To illustrate the lunacy and corruption that often accompanies Russian police work, in spite of the fact that deadly weapons were used and innocent civilians injured, those arrested were charged with administrative (non-criminal) offenses. Since the case went public the police have said that they are "looking into" the possibility of criminal charges.

The Chechen mafia question is a sticky one for Moscow. Chechnya came out of two civil wars with Russia and the current leader of the republic is widely known to be under the protection of president Putin. Chechens in Moscow are among some of the most heavily armed members of the mafia and are given a wide berth by Russian police agencies. In exchange for that latitude, it is claimed that the Kremlin uses those forces for certain "dirty" enforcement projects which include things like silencing opposition figures, reigning in business leaders who have political ambitions, and the like.

That alleged arrangement however does not bode well with Russia's official security organs, and more than once has provided fuel for conflict between the president and his handlers in the shadows.

A final note: I see recent posts claiming that Ukraine's corruption levels are worse than Russia's. Funny. While I do not excuse the extensive issues of corruption in Ukraine, and there are aplenty, one only needs to look at the larger and much more developed network of systemic corruption next door to discover who is the teacher, and who is the student.
« Last Edit: February 08, 2016, 01:25:28 PM by mendeleyev »
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Offline BC

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Re: Police Reform...or not
« Reply #1 on: February 08, 2016, 11:21:13 AM »
Mendy,
It sounds more like anti corruption efforts are being aimed from the bottom up instead of the top down.  In the short run such can quickly benefit the common citizen but in the long run might end up pissing off the 'worker' who is easily fired and replaced.  I really believe it should be done from the top down.. a few of the bosses fired, fined and best imprisoned will send a signal down the chain of command and likely be more effective in the medium term with less effort.  Just one top official under 'pressure' will be able to knock out a whole segment of corruption whereas lower officials can only point upwards only one level and haven't a clue as to who is really involved upstream.  But maybe such would be too bold..

Offline mendeleyev

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Re: Police Reform...or not
« Reply #2 on: February 08, 2016, 11:35:11 AM »
BC, you are exactly correct.
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Offline BC

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Re: Police Reform...or not
« Reply #3 on: February 08, 2016, 11:52:13 AM »
BC, you are exactly correct.

Just curious, what wages are paid to lower, mid and higher tier police officials?

Although throwing money at a problem rarely works, my impression is that wages at all levels are not that much.. I guess I'm really asking if wages are enough to provide a decent lifestyle without corruption..  In my experience it's best to provide reasonable choices and accepting there will be a rotten apple here or there rather than expecting 'clean' workers at pay levels that have difficulty providing for themselves and their families without corruption.

Offline mendeleyev

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Re: Police Reform...or not
« Reply #4 on: February 08, 2016, 01:21:40 PM »
Under the continuing Medvedev reforms of 2012, just prior to Putin returning to office, new guidelines were put in place:

- Officers with known ties to the underworld, or who had been subject to administrative review, were released. That along with other behavioural factors, led to an amazing 20% reduction in the force level nationwide.

- Officers who were retained received an average 30% pay hike, phased in over the next year.

- The Interior Ministry used that reform to also upgrade patrol cars, a needed improvement. Rarely today do you see officers patrolling in outdated Lada sedans. Instead, cars made by KIA, Toyota, and Ford are often seen on patrol.

- Top ranking police officials make a base of 100,000 to 300,000+ rubles salary ($1,280 to 3800) monthly. That is just their base without bonuses and index for term of service.

- The current salary level is indexed by rank and term of service. For example, a street or patrol officer with less than 5 years experience makes a base pay of around $400 monthly (26,000p) under current exchange rates. There are bonuses opportunities for quotas and overtime. An officer with 10 years service makes about (40,000p) or $510 monthly base salary. (Some remote regions and small cities are indexed lower.)

- Moscow, being the capital, is treated differently. The base pay for a new officer just starting is 40,000p ($510) monthly and goes up from there. Officers who work the coveted capital/Duma/Red Square detail get an additional 35%. There is also a bonus structure for working night hours.

- Benefits for police can be very good depending on the city in which they serve. In Moscow for example, my cousin Gherman and his family can take advantage of a police hospital and special clinics open only to police and their families. He is a captain by rank in the capital district and so his salary is given a further boost by both where he serves and his rank.
« Last Edit: February 08, 2016, 01:32:39 PM by mendeleyev »
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Offline BC

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Re: Police Reform...or not
« Reply #5 on: February 08, 2016, 02:02:35 PM »
Still too low IMHO.. but at least an improvement.  How is an entry level cop able to survive in Moscow with 500 bucks per month?

Offline mendeleyev

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Re: Police Reform...or not
« Reply #6 on: February 09, 2016, 01:46:39 AM »
Given the capital index, that is really a starting base. Most young cops earn more especially with overtime.
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Offline mendeleyev

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Re: Police Reform...or not
« Reply #7 on: February 09, 2016, 02:06:33 AM »
The Interior Ministry is designed to keep the government safe from all internal threats. Translation: keep the government safe from the people.

Allow me to set this one up: Last year the Moscow city government, which seems to give preference to large chains (often run by Oligarchs) over smaller Mom and Pop stores, declared that 104 small strip centers near Metro stations were "illegal." Now mind you those shops had business licenses, pay sales taxes, have land use permits, etc, so the city had a hard time explaining just what made those business locations to be illegal other than to claim that the landowners had violated the law in renting the facilities.

Court cases were filed and much to the chagrin of the city, the businesses were winning. In fact, 32 of those cases had been recently decided in favour of the business tenants against the city.

So what did the city do? Not waiting to lose any more cases, last night they began, in the middle of the night, to raze several of the locations--including ones where they had lost in court.

If you'd like to see the devastation, here is a link with photos: http://varlamov.ru/1588168.html

In some cases the businesses were simply renting from well-connected land owners who lacked proper permits. Not in any construction or safety violations, but in the presence of prefabricated buildings at those locations. They city had long ago signed off and approved of each installation. In most civilized nations there are attempts made to protect the small business operators, giving them time to relocate, and prosecuting the land owners who may have violated the law. But in these cases, the city has decided to circumvent the courts and to act before the courts have concluded all the pending cases.

The police were out in force, not to protect legitimate small business operators, but to protect city crews who had come to raze the buildings. It was sad to see owners scurrying in to salvage what they could of their goods before everything was destroyed. In many cases, bystanders joined in helping those small business people rescue what they could of the inventory.

In most of these cases, the business owners were given no advance notice that their small stores and offices would be demolished. Even more sad, city crews began to knock down the structures while civilians were still inside trying frantically to move their belongings!



In the words of the young lady in the video, she expresses shock near the end and exclaims that she has witnessed the beginning of the end, and there is no one to save us!

« Last Edit: February 09, 2016, 02:10:06 AM by mendeleyev »
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Offline mendeleyev

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Re: Police Reform...or not
« Reply #8 on: February 09, 2016, 02:26:58 AM »
Irony: one of the buildings demolished near the "Clean Ponds" Metro station was the city's own public restrooms! Apparently the city itself was "illegal" in some form or fashion.  :cluebat:
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Offline mendeleyev

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Re: Police Reform...or not
« Reply #9 on: February 10, 2016, 10:58:35 AM »
In an update to the story immediately above, Alex Shifrin of "Soup-chik" sent a message with permission to share it:

In 2009, four of us decided to launch SoupChik, a small soup business in Moscow. The idea was ingeniously simple: Russians like soup. There isn’t a fast food soup concept in town. Let’s make one. The plan was to open one location at first, then take over the whole of Russia with a soup kiosk on every corner. It seemed foolproof. It wasn’t.

What started as a modest investment amongst four friends turned into something else as the business hoovered cash and hovered on the edge of reprieve, always held back by a combination of an unforgiving culture of graft and our naïve relentlessness. Employee theft, police and tax inspector shakedowns, the moving target of permissions and restrictions, mayoral policies, dodgy landlords and a host of other Russia-specific challenges all combined to turn a can’t-fail great idea into whatever is the opposite of that.

A great illustration was the morning that the bulldozers arrived at one of our locations.

It was 9am and the start of another glorious day selling soup. Then the phone rang. It was Zalina.

“There’s a bulldozer outside the kiosk.”


“What?”


“A bulldozer. The men are telling me that we have two hours to get our stuff out.”


‘What men? What are you talking about?”


We went back and forth several times until the absurdity sunk in. It was pretty much as described. Yes, there were bulldozers outside our kiosk and yes, we had about two hours to gather as much as we could before they razed the whole thing.

Apparently Mayor Sobyanin’s new mood towards small business was starting to take hold. Random visible zones and locations were being arbitrarily targeted as a demonstration of his resolve to rid the streets of kiosk commerce and we were one of the first to experience it. A bulldozer had arrived and without any particular ceremony or warning, we were told to pack up and get out of the way.


Mendeleyev note: Alex indicated that police were soon on the scene, not to protect an innocent business owner, but to enforce the two hour time limit to evacuate the premises.
« Last Edit: February 10, 2016, 11:00:44 AM by mendeleyev »
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Offline BC

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Re: Police Reform...or not
« Reply #10 on: February 10, 2016, 12:17:42 PM »
Indeed sad to hear that there was no due process involved.

Has there been any public reaction?

Offline BillyB

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Re: Police Reform...or not
« Reply #11 on: February 10, 2016, 12:58:50 PM »
I read an article yesterday saying the destruction of these small businesses started at midnight. The reason being is because those business were operating illegally and the government will replace the destroyed business district with something more beautiful. I don't know how those businesses operated illegally since to operate a business, they would have to bribe government officials and pay off the mafia. It sucks for employees to be out of a job so suddenly without warning and the business owners who lost everything in their stores and cafes. The government shoul at least give them 2 weeks notice so people can search for other jobs and the owners can clear out valuable goods before the demo.
Fund the audits, spread the word and educate people, write your politicians and other elected officials. Stay active in the fight to save our country. Over 220 generals and admirals say we are in a fight for our survival like no other time since 1776.

Offline mendeleyev

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Re: Police Reform...or not
« Reply #12 on: February 10, 2016, 03:12:49 PM »
Each of these businesses, and they included some large branches of major mobile photo providers, etc, were operating with business licenses, occupancy permits, fire and food handling permits, etc.

The only thing "illegal" is that the city is on an insane drive to eliminate all kiosks from the streets of Moscow. In a few of the cases, supposedly some of the prefab structures had been moved in by landlords and the city had not approved the prior prefab process. However, each of them had gone thru inspections, gained occupancy permits, had the proper licenses to operate, etc.

The courts had already thrown out 32 of the city's claims when the first wave hit in January. The city disregarded the courts and demolished those anyway. Now it seems that the city has decided not to give advance notice so as to avoid future court rulings.

As you can see upthread, there is a video where demolition did indeed begin in the dark of night.
« Last Edit: February 10, 2016, 03:15:35 PM by mendeleyev »
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Offline mendeleyev

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Re: Police Reform...or not
« Reply #13 on: February 12, 2016, 11:13:55 PM »
 Moscow Times:
Quote
Russia's Supreme Court has confirmed that only 6 percent of street properties recently demolished by City Hall were constructed illegally, the RBC newspaper reported Friday, citing the Supreme Court's records.  The court's records show that 27 cases were still being examined by the courts and 48 cases had already been decided in favor of the property-owners.

The court found that only three of the properties demolished by the authorities had been constructed illegally.

 
Unfortunately, give the state of the justice system and rule of law, in spite of the Supreme Court findings, and various stays ordered by local courts, the city will continue to demolish properties. It is Russia, and the justice system only works when those at the top give the green light.

If you ask the average Moscow citizen on the street, many believe that it will not be long before new stores appear--but the replacements will be controlled by owners more cozy with the Mayor's office.
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