Russian police reform

Russian police reform (Закон о Полиции (Zakon o Politsii (Law on Police))) is an ongoing effort initiated by then President Dmitry Medvedev to improve the efficiency of Russia's police forces, decrease corruption and improve the public image of law enforcement. On 7 February 2011, amendments were made to laws on the police force, the criminal code and the criminal procedure code.

The amendments came into force on 1 March 2011. These changes stipulate a personnel cut of 20%, the renaming of Russian law enforcers from "militsiya" (militia) to "politsiya" (police), substantial increases in wages, centralisation of financing, and several other changes. Around 217 billion rubles ($7 billion) have been allocated from the federal budget to finance the reform.

The Russian law enforcers (called militsiya before the reform) had a poor public image: over half of the population admit that they do not trust the police. Compared to other countries, the trust in the police in Russia is higher than in Ukraine and Belarus, but less than in Slovakia and substantially smaller than in Western European countries such as Germany. Many people in Russia have had bad experiences with the militsiya and, when becoming victims of a crime, are reluctant to call the militsiya for help.

Corruption is widely believed to be significant among Russian law enforcement officers. According to a 2005 study by the Levada-Center research organisation, almost 60% of the surveyed police officers had additional jobs to supplement their income, and almost 20% gained additional income during working hours. The Russian state does not monitor the private business activities of its law enforcement officers. In comparison, 20–90% of policemen in the cities of the United States conduct private business, but have to report their activities to the police authorities.

Russian police are relatively poorly paid, and low wages are widely regarded as one of the main reasons for corruption and abuse of office among the law enforcement officers.

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