MOSCOW, 9 November 2023. Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VCIOM) presents the findings of a monitoring study devoted to Law Enforcement Appreciation Day and describing public perceptions of the profession of police officer.

How much do we trust police?

2009 marked the launch of a large-scale reform aimed at the Ministry of Internal Affairs to enhance the agency’s performance, to improve the skills of police officers and to counteract corruption. A new federal law “On Police” came into force two years later to rename the agency and to increase public control over its performance. Although more than half of Russians did not expect any changes after the agency was renamed, the public image of police image improved years later. In particular, public trust in police officers locally has increased. Over the five years, from 2012 to 2018, the share of those who trust them has increased 1.6-fold, from 35% to 57%. It has been an all-time high for the second consecutive year:  62% of respondents said they trusted the policemen in 2022; 66% trust them in 2023 including every fifth who fully trusts the police officers (19% in 2023 vs 3% in 2012).  As last year, those who trust the police officers more than others are young respondents aged 18-24 (85% vs 66% in the entire sample).

A quarter of respondents do not trust the police officers (25%). Since 2022 this share has decreased by 7 p.p. and almost 2.5-fold over the recent 11 years (61% in 2012). 

Thus, the index of trust in police officers in the region*, calculated as a difference between positive and negative answers (trust-distrust), hit a fresh all-time high and reached 41 p. out of 100 (+11 p. over a year; 30 p. in 2022). 

What kind of profession is it?

Prestige and income of police officers are scored 3.48 and 3.29, respectively, out of 5. For comparison, the social standing and income of another important profession - doctors - were scored 3.19 and 3.05, respectively, last year.

* Index of Trust in Police Officers in the region shows the level of trust of Russians in police in their region. The higher the index, the more the trust levels are. The index is based on the answers to the question “Do you trust or distrust the police officers in your region?”; it is calculated as a difference between positive and negative answers, measured in points and can vary between -100 and 100.

VCIOM-Sputnik Russian nationwide telephone survey was conducted November 3, 2023. A total of 1,600 Russians aged 18+ were surveyed. Survey method: telephone interviews, stratified random sample based on a complete list of mobile phone numbers in use in Russia. The data were weighted for socio-demographic characteristics. The margin of error at a 95% confidence level does not exceed 2.5%. In addition to sampling error, minor changes to the wording of questions and different circumstances arising during the fieldwork can introduce bias into the survey.

Key effectiveness indicators, survey of 3 November, 2023:  cooperation rate (CR)* = 0.7932; minimum response rate (MRR)** = 0.0163; response rate (RR)*** = 0.0936.

* CR: the number of complete interviews divided by the sum of: а) complete interviews and b) non-interviews with eligible respondents.

** MRR: the number of complete interviews divided by the sum of: а) complete interviews, b) interrupted interviews after successful screening and c) all the respondents where it is unknown whether they meet the selected criteria or not.

 ** RR is calculated in the same way as MRR, with the only difference that the number of respondents with unknown eligibility decreases proportional to the percentage of eligible cases in the total number of respondents with identified eligibility or non-eligibility.

*Household face-to-face interviews (“Express” project); stratified multistage sample with quotas based on socio-demographic parameters; representative of the Russian population aged 18 and older according to the type of settlement, gender, age, education and federal district. Sample size: 1,600 respondents