Moscow police chief Major General Vladimir Kolokoltsev managed a populist one-two punch on 20 January. While congratulating himself on a decline in overall crime rates in the city in a press conference, he also got to single out the city’s migrant population as especially criminal. Yet the hidden subtext is also the continuing problem with police corruption and criminality.
All posts in category Police Reform
Mixed messages from Moscow’s 2009 crime figures
Posted by Mark Galeotti on January 21, 2010
https://inmoscowsshadows.wordpress.com/2010/01/21/mixed-messages-from-moscow%e2%80%99s-2009-crime-figures/
The latest Russian police reform: the Kremlin is likely to be the only beneficiary
On Thursday 24 December 2009, President Medvedev signed a decree which he said would “enhance the work of the Interior Ministry”, and in particular “specify organisational changes and changes in certain financial and legal issues.” (more…)
Posted by Mark Galeotti on January 1, 2010
https://inmoscowsshadows.wordpress.com/2010/01/01/the-latest-russian-police-reform-the-kremlin-is-likely-to-be-the-only-beneficiary/
Russia’s police, unreformed
The appointment, after five months’ haggling and searching, of Major General Vladimir Kolokoltsev to be Moscow’s new police chief after the dismissal of General Pronin, provides the hook for another RFE/RL commentary: Three Reasons Why Russia’s Police Remain Unreformed. The three reasons? Politicization, corruption and a lack of resources. Of course, the fundamental meta-reason behind all three is that the Kremlin isn’t interested in meaningful police reform that would create an effective, independent law enforcement structure such that could underpin a genuine rule-of-law state. Alas.
Posted by Mark Galeotti on October 10, 2009
https://inmoscowsshadows.wordpress.com/2009/10/10/russias-police-unreformed/
New guns for Russia’s cops – so what?
A piece of news which might seem of interest only to the gun-nut and the real obsessive actually has rather greater significance: the Russian police are phasing out their old Makarov pistols and Kalashnikov rifles with new weapons.
So what? (more…)
Posted by Mark Galeotti on October 23, 2008
https://inmoscowsshadows.wordpress.com/2008/10/23/new-guns-for-russias-cops-so-what/
Medvedev’s first police reform: MVD loses specialised organised crime department
Under Yeltsin, under Putin, and now it seems under Medvedev, reorganising law-enforcement agencies and overlaying new bodies on top of the existing ones has been the usual response to dealing with serious and organised crime. Cynic though I may be, this was my first thought on looking at Medvedev’s latest decree of 6 September 2008. The Interior Ministry (MVD) is to lose its specialised department for fighting organised crime and terrorism (DBOPT, but still widely known by its old acronym, UBOP) and its local branches. Investigating organised crime will simply be rolled into the work of the existing Main Directorate for Criminal Investigation (GUUR) and local CIDs, while UBOP staff will be transferred to a new body with a rather incongruous combination of roles: fighting ‘extremism’ and protecting judicial officials and witnesses.
Posted by Mark Galeotti on September 11, 2008
https://inmoscowsshadows.wordpress.com/2008/09/11/medvedevs-first-police-reform-mvd-loses-specialised-organised-crime-department/
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