Police integrity in Russia

Abstract

This chapter explores the contours of police integrity in Russia. The Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index suggests that Russia is perceived as a highly corrupt country. With about 1 million employees, the Russian police are one of the largest police agencies in the world. This chapter relies on the police integrity survey conducted in 2012-2013. Questionnaires were distributed to the police officers in two regions of the Russian Federation: Southern District-Rostov Region and North Caucasus-Karachaevo Cherkessia. With two exceptions, the respondents did not perceive the behaviors described in the scenarios as very serious. While most of the respondents did not have any problems recognizing these behaviors as rule violating, they supported and expected police agencies to mete out no discipline for the majority of these behaviors. Finally, the results suggest that the code of silence covers all of the behaviors described in the questionnaire.