Why do people start to trust the police?
According to survey data, in 2005, 51% of Russians were more afraid of the police than of criminals; while a 1999 survey showed that 67% of respondents clearly did not trust the police. Now, 36% of people consider the police work "satisfactory," and 27% consider it "good," totaling 63%.
I worked at all the theater festivals in Moscow when I was young, sometimes as an administrator and sometimes as a German translator — it's funny, but the German I learned in school was enough for these jobs. It was probably in 2004, when a very popular German theater from Berlin came to Moscow with their performance team for the theater festival. I needed to provide translation services for rehearsals and stage setup (i.e., building sets, adjusting lights and sound), to ensure that the German staff could understand what our staff meant. This was essentially cross-cultural communication, interaction, and dialogue.
The performance couldn't start on time — the director's assistant went out for a walk on the streets of Moscow and disappeared. It was 2004, although everyone had a mobile phone, obviously no one would pay for expensive international roaming, and these phones couldn't connect to Wi-Fi. In short, the communication scenario of twenty years ago was completely different from now. If someone went missing, everyone could only look for him on the street. He wouldn't go far, and he didn't speak Russian. Finally, we found out that he hadn't gone far, just stood in the snow at Kameger Street, confused and upset. We took him back to the theater, warmed him up, gave him tea with brandy, and then found out what happened. He said that when he was walking on the street, two people in uniform came up to him. From his description, they should have been ordinary patrol police — they started talking something and pulled his arm to take him somewhere else, occasionally uttering the word "мани" during the conversation. He understood that "мани" referred to money (in German, "money" is "das Geld," which sounds similar). So the director's assistant took out a 50 euro bill from his wallet, and the police took the money and left. Who should we report this to? On one hand, the performance still needed to go on, after all, the audience of the theater festival was waiting; on the other hand, it was 2004, and those who spoke Russian on site were convinced of two facts: things were like that, and there was no point in reasoning with the police.
Ultimately, why was it like that? Because almost everyone of us who grew up in the gap between the collapse of the system and the stabilization of the new system remembered an important rule of conduct — when you see the police, quickly walk to the other side of the street.
Almost everyone who experienced the 90s and early 21st century has encountered situations that can be called "police arbitrariness." These events are often absurd and trivial, yet they always cause devastating damage to the reputation of law enforcement agencies.
In 2002, I stayed in Saint Petersburg for four days, intending to visit museums, but was stopped by the police on the street. They asked me to show my accommodation registration certificate, and upon finding that I didn't have one, they took me to the police station, where I was locked up behind bars for three hours. Finally, they "generously" let me go — a sergeant opened his desk drawer and told me I had to put 500 rubles (the Russian currency) inside.
Who was wrong in this situation? Honestly, at the time, I even didn't feel it was unfair, but rather thought "that's how the world works, and I should accept it calmly." Even the police in the TV series "Streets Under Broken Streetlights" weren't portrayed as protectors or heroes — although this series was clearly shot to improve the image of law enforcement agencies. They were just a group of "ordinary people," who could have a drink with you and complain "you know, brother, life is like this. There's nothing we can do, life forces us to do this." They would also say "in fact, we all long for beauty and order, but life, you know." These words are basically a replica of the lines from the 2000s movie "The BMW Case" where the gangsters justify their lifestyle — "it's not that we want to live like this, it's life that forces us to."
This kind of perception was considered normal at the time — what difference is there between the police and the gangsters?
According to the survey, in 2005, 51% of Russians were more afraid of the police than of criminals; the 1999 survey showed that 67% of respondents clearly did not trust the police. Now, 36% of people consider the police work "satisfactory," and 27% consider it "good," totaling 63%. Considering that people's initial attitudes towards the police are generally suspicious around the world, such data is sufficient to indicate that public opinion on law enforcement has undergone an incredible improvement.
To explain this change, it is difficult to find a single, universal reason. Indeed, we changed the name from "милиция" (a Soviet and early Russian term for "police," which carries a strong connotation of "public order maintenance") to "полиция" (more closely resembling the modern concept of "police"), but the key obviously isn't in the name. What did the 90s mean for the police and the public? It was the breakdown of all social contracts. The relationship between individuals and the state could be arbitrary, without any clear rules to constrain it. If you were lucky enough to find a good job, that was great. If you were unlucky, no one would provide you with a "social mobility channel," nor would anyone guarantee your minimum dignity of life.
In 1999, the average monthly salary of Moscow patrol police was 2800 rubles. Converted according to the exchange rate of that year, the monthly income of an ordinary police officer was only 112 dollars — and this was in Moscow. In such a situation, what could the state and society expect from the police? As long as they didn't cause too much damage, it was already a blessing.
You can check the police forums from 2012 (before the name change from "милиция" to "полиция"). At that time, people were celebrating the salary increase: one person's monthly salary increased from 10,500 rubles to 28,600 rubles, another from 12,000 rubles to 30,400 rubles.
Evidently, since the beginning of the 21st century, the state finally realized that "something must be done" — because the situation had become so bad that it couldn't get worse. Of course, various private initiatives had some positive impact on certain economic fields and social life, but in those fields that concerned the "foundation of the country" — the military, the police, the banking system, heavy industry, urban construction, etc. — problems remained prominent, and there were many such areas.
Over the past 20 to 25 years, the police and the entire country have undergone transformation, rather than changing in isolation. It's hard to imagine now that a law-abiding citizen needs to avoid the police. The police are now seen as "specific executors of national functions." Parents naturally tell their children, "if you get lost, go find the police for help."
Honestly, I recently also contacted the police. Here's what happened: I sent my mother-in-law's antique table for restoration, intending to give it to her as a birthday gift, but the restorer disappeared along with his studio. I couldn't reach him by phone, he didn't respond to messages, and even writing long letters didn't move this person who accepted the job but didn't fulfill his responsibility. I know this might sound a bit absurd, but I still went to the police station. Honestly, I was prepared for all sorts of worst-case scenarios — being ignored, being extorted, or even being investigated myself — but I never expected them to listen to my statement calmly and patiently, and to accept my report. A week later, a lieutenant called me and said, "The restorer has been found. He is currently working urgently on the table, and he will deliver it to you in two weeks. If he doesn't deliver on time, please call us again. For now, we won't file a case against him, and we will send you a notice."
Certainly, this is just an example, but the overall perception of the position of an institution in society is made up of countless individual experiences. Now, the police's position in society is at least "decent."
This cannot be denied.
Original: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7555436655700722212/
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