Youtube Cops and Power Without Limits : Understanding Police Violence in 21st Century Russia

Abstract

This paper explores the problem of police violence in contemporary Russia by reviewing research on police violence, drawing on Internet coverage of the issue and analysing relevant examples. In recent years the problems of police abuse of power, torture, cruelty and other crimes perpetrated by police officers (violence, drug dealing, extortion, and collusion with criminal groups) have been frequently discussed in the mass media, highlighted by human rights activists, and studied by social scientists. Police power has been frequently characterised as power “without limits” (bespredel) and it has recently been argued that the Russian police represent an example of “predatory” policing. The paper examines the various dimensions of police violence, provides a typology of violence and looks at the ways in which the use of the Internet, including YouTube and blogs has added a new dimension to the discussion of police violence and more general misconduct. The Internet is considered as an increasingly important form of addressing such issues when official avenues prove unresponsive and ineffective. Finally, it is argued that the significance of such new media constructions lies in their capacity to carry a deeper message about the ways in which power and violence (including the condoning of it) go hand in hand in today’s Russia.