MONITORING PUBLIC ATTITUDE TO THE WORK OF POLICE IN KEMEROVO REGION - KUZBASS (BASED ON REGIONAL STUDIES)

Abstract

The article aims to present a comparative analysis of the results of opinion polls conducted by all-Russian public opinion centers and regional research organizations regarding the work of the police based on the case of one division of the Siberian Federal District - Kemerovo Region - Kuzbass. It is noted that conducting such research acts as a kind of “feedback” tool between the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the public and is basically aimed at identifying the dynamics of current results and existing problems in the work of police officers. At the same time, the authors compare polls of different types (mass and online polls) and levels (federal or regional), which allows for a better analysis of the issue. The article analyzes data for the last few years obtained by the Public Opinion Foundation (FOM), the All-Russian Research Institute of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia, the Siberian Politics Foundation and the Centre for Regional Social and Political Research at the Institute of History and International Relations of Kemerovo State University. The main issues that are constantly monitored by the leadership of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and representing the subjects of tudy for opinion surveys include the degree of protection of the population, the level of trust to police officers, performance assessment, the degree of victimization of the population (whether a person was subjected to criminal attacks or not for over the past 12 months). The study made it possible to see the weak and strong aspects of both the survey results themselves using the case of the region and to trace the similarities and differences in the public evaluation throughout the country and in Kuzbass. For example, online polls in Kuzbass conducted in September 2020 against the background of the COVID: pandemic showed a “surge” of protest potential in the responses. In general, the study concluded that federal results tend to color the real situation offering a certain generalized result across the country, while the level of regional research is more objective in reflecting the real situation.