Interfax: Two thirds of Russians take positive view of police, many ready to help – poll

Russian Riot Police file photo

MOSCOW. Nov 8 (Interfax) – The attitude of Russians to police has improved lately, the Public Opinion Foundation said.

“There has been an improvement of every essential parameter of personal security and police performance during nationwide monitoring; the situation looks better in 2013 than it was throughout the entire period of monitoring since 2009,” the Foundation said in a press release posted on its website on Thursday.

The percentage of Russians who take a positive view of police has grown from 63% to 66%, and the percentage of citizens who believe police protect their personal interests and property rather well has also grown, from 37% to 41%.

“Last year 18% of Russians declared an improvement in the police performance in their hometowns and districts, 6% said there had been a change for the worse, and 66% either said there had been no change or could not answer the question. Now an improvement is affirmed by 28% of the respondents, and 9% claim the opposite,” the Foundation said.

The approval rating of the police has been growing, too. Only 11% of the respondents said they had witnessed police violations of rights in 2013. The indicators stood at 22% in 2009, 18% in 2010, 15% in 2011 and 14% in 2012.

The Foundation said resource groups were ready to be cooperative. Some 74% of Muscovites were ready to report a crime. The same readiness was expressed by 72% of people with higher education. Besides, 59% of educated people said they were ready to testify. “There is a high degree of readiness to assist police amongst respondents who learn about police operations from the Internet. They are ready to assist police in every possible way more than an average Russian, from voluntary patrols (19% vs. 14%) to crime reports (74% vs. 66%),” the Foundation said.

Fifty-nine percent of citizens who have had contact with the police have a positive impression, 37% have negative, and 4% are undecided.

The Public Opinion Foundation polled 135,000 Russians in all the 83 federation constituents in July-September 2013. The Russian Interior Ministry ordered the poll.

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