Russian law enforcement under president Putin

Abstract

Crime in Russia is increas ing. D e p u t y In ter ior Minis ter Valentin Chernyavskii advised Interfax, a leading Russian news agency, that crime in Russia increased 4 percent between the first quarter of 2000 and the first quarter of 2001. He noted that the escalation of crime was especially acute in regions with the greatest economic and industrial potential. Additionally, instances of death resulting from a drug overdose increased from 1,000 to 1,300 during the same time-frame. 1 There is no question that crime in the streets and crime among the elite continues to engulf the Russian economy in turmoil. Unfortunately, law enforcement agencies have been unable to cope with the increasing threat for historical as well as other reasons. The following paragraphs give only a cursory history of the concept of "police"and"criminal justice"in Soviet Russia, but they do provide a quick insight into how and why the current Russian police behave as they do. Certain traditions are simply hard to overcome, especially when they have proven to be so effective in the past. Starting afresh after the collapse of the former Soviet Union has caused even more confusion, corruption, and an inability to quickly reform. First, the term"police"in Russia simply scares people. Since the beginning of the Bolshevik regime, the government relied on a strong secret police to maintain power. The first Bolshevik secret police, termed the Cheka, was created in December 1917 to bolster the government but was supposed to be abolished once they were firmly installed as the power brokers of Russia. Arguably, this was never accomplished, but the offspring of the organization still exist today. The original Cheka, headed by the notorious Feliks Dzerzhinskii, was one of the most potent police organizations ever to exist. Initially, it was empowered only to investigate counter-revolutionary crimes; however, it soon expanded its powers of summary judgement and began a campaign of terror against the so-called enemies of Bolshevism. Once the Civil War was over, the Cheka was disbanded and its functions were transferred to