Russians better assess the police performance, however negative attitudes and public distrust towards police is still high.
MOSCOW, November 8, 2013. Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VCIOM) presents the data concerning the attitudes of Russians regarding local policemen as well as the level of trust towards them.
More than one quarter of Russians can evaluate the police performance according to the personal experience; the share of such respodnents is 26% including 11% of those who have positive assessments and 15% of those who have negative assessments.
Most of respondents report that they have never dealt with policemen (72%).
Over the recent years the level of trust in police has increased: the share of those who trust them in their region has increased from 40 to 46% over three years. Rural area residents trust policemen more than anyone else (56%).
Those who happened and who have not happened to deal with policemen over the recent years assess the work of policemen equally (46%, for each). The level of distrust has grown among those who happened to deal with policemen over a year (51% vs 43%, respectively).
Today most of Russians assess the police performance as average (52%); they are mainly residents of big cities (62%) and young Russians (59%).
As to the rest of respondents, the number of negative assessments is almost equal to the number of positive assessments. The average score representing the work of police is 3.01.
Thus, 21% of Russians give positive evaluations. Rural area residents tend to trust the police more often (26%). Other 21% of respondents negatively assess local policemen; most of them reside in small cities (28%).
Remarkably, the average assessments are given by those who have not dealt with policemen over a year (57% vs 40% of those who have had). Those who have dealt with policemen tend to assess their work both positively (30 vs 17, respectively) and negatively (28 vs 18%, respectively).
The VCIOM opinion polls were conducted on October 12-13, 2013. 1600 respondents were interviewed in 130 communities in 42 regions of Russia. The margin of error does not exceed 3.4%.
Have you /members of your family dealt with policemen over the recent twelve months? If yes, what are your assessments? (closed-ended question, one answer) | |||
| 2009 | 2010 | 2013 |
We have not dealt with policemen | 72 | 72 | 72 |
We have dealt with policemen; negative assessment | 16 | 16 | 15 |
We have dealt with policemen; positive assessment | 9 | 9 | 11 |
Hard to tell | 3 | 3 | 2 |
Do you trust the policemen of your region?* (closed-ended question, one answer) | |||||
| 2005 | 2006 | 2009 | 2010 | 2013 |
Definitely yes | 8 | 11 | 6 | 5 | 7 |
Rather yes | 29 | 31 | 32 | 35 | 39 |
Rather no | 39 | 29 | 35 | 32 | 34 |
Definitely no | 18 | 23 | 18 | 15 | 11 |
Hard to tell | 5 | 6 | 10 | 12 | 9 |
*Up to 2010 the questions referred to the representatives of militia
How do you assess the work of police in your region? (closed-ended question, one answer) | ||||
| 2005 | 2009 | 2010 | 2013 |
Very good | 2 | 1 | 3 | 3 |
Good | 11 | 13 | 24 | 18 |
Average | 49 | 50 | 33 | 52 |
Bad | 27 | 21 | 23 | 18 |
Very bad | 6 | 6 | 6 | 3 |
Hard to tell | 5 | 10 | 12 | 6 |
Average score | 3.25 | 3.20 | 3.05 | 3.01 |
* Up to 2010 the questions referred to the representatives of militia
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