The war in Ukraine is exacerbating the staff shortage in the Russian police force – it’s not just charges of denouncing the army that are leading to overwork.
Moscow – It’s a development that may surprise many: Russia According to the Russian Interior Ministry, it has more than 900,000 police officers, making it one of the largest police forces in the world. There are almost 630 civil servants per 100,000 inhabitants – more than twice as many as in the USA. And yet Russia is running out of police officers like them BBC now reported. Russian Interior Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev also had to admit this in August 2023. He said his country has a “critical” shortage of police officers, which could impact crime rates.
This development has been underway for several years. This is what a former police officer from central Russia reported to BBCthat vacancies have remained unfilled for a long time. “There has been a shortage for ages. I started in 2015, and in the last eight years only two people have joined our team while 15 have left.” The upheaval caused by the Ukraine war make the situation even worse.
Shortage of personnel in the Russian police: “Only an idiot would join the police now”
The decline in the Russian police force has many causes. A major reason is probably the surprisingly poor pay. Combined with the stressful nature and risks of the job, it encourages many officers to leave the police force for better paying jobs. The one associated with international sanctions Russia’s ailing economy With inflation and rising prices, this problem is made even worse.
“They didn’t adjust salaries at all,” a former police officer from Rostov-on-Don in southwest Russia told the BBC. “After inflation and the new prices, it’s not enough.” He quit and became a taxi driver. A friend of his also left the police and now works as a courier driver. Significantly, both now earn twice as much as before as police officers.
“I achieved the rank of major. Still, someone working in a supermarket earned more than me. Only an idiot would go to the police now,” said the former police officer from Rostov-on-Don.
Police in Russia: Unrealistic requirements lead to stress and promote corruption
Another reason for the bleeding of the Russian police is, according to the BBC the permanent overload, for example through general time requirements. This leads to the tasks of daily police work being carried out inadequately or not at all. “Everyone has ten days to review statements, whether there are five or 50. “This naturally deteriorates the quality of the work,” said a police officer from the Russian part of Siberia.
These requirements sometimes make it impossible to complete all the necessary steps of police work – with the result that proceedings are not even initiated and charges are not filed. Together with the growing shortage of personnel, all of this leads to excessive demands on the remaining officials, which in turn promotes corruption and police violence.
“Officers beat confessions out of people, inflate arrest rates, we see that all the time,” said a police major from the Russian city of Tomsk. “It’s only going to get worse. Evidence is falsified, there are targeted beatings, there is simply no time left to properly investigate something.” In many cases it is easier to “drag the first suspect to the station and beat him up” so that he can take the blame takes itself.
The Ukraine war leads to new criminal offenses – and less time for real crimes
This stress factor is exacerbated by the war in Ukraine and the associated establishment of a dictatorship under the warlord Wladimir Putin additionally. Any criticism of the war, which can only be called a “special military operation,” has now been criminalized. Anyone who publicly addresses the atrocities committed by Russian soldiers risks several years in prison in Putin’s Russia – because of alleged false information about the Russian army.
These new criminal offenses also led to further overloading of the already sparsely staffed police stations. “Endless accusations” for supposedly discrediting the army are now on the agenda. There is a real culture of denunciation, said a former police major from Tomsk. “People are always looking for an excuse to denounce someone.”
The police hardly have any capacity left to deal with real crimes. Instead, “crimes against the state” moved to the forefront of police work, which was of course wanted from above. The priority is the statement of a senior citizen who claims to have seen a curtain in the colors of the Ukrainian flag. A political crime in Russia today. “In the future, even more cases will fall into this category,” predicted the major from Tomsk.
There is fear among the Russian police that they will be recruited into the Ukraine war
However, the war in Ukraine also had an impact that initially counteracted the reduction in police personnel. When war broke out, quite a few police officers who were about to resign from their service preferred to remain on duty – because police officers cannot be called up for military service.
“You either stood firm or you left and were drafted,” explained a police officer from Moscow. The official also reported supervisors compiling lists of everyone who threatened to quit and passing them directly to the Army Recruiting Service. “Everyone was pretty scared.”
Nevertheless, there are still massive personnel gaps that cannot be filled – not to mention the 40,000 additional personnel that, according to the Interior Ministry, are needed in Donetsk and Luhansk, i.e. in the areas of the Ukraine, which are partly occupied by Russia. And another 42,000 police officers will be needed if Russia occupies more areas.
#idiot #police