Results of our studies

MOSCOW, 10 November 2022. To mark Day of the Internal Affairs Officer Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VCIOM) presents the findings of a study on the perceptions and trust in policemen in Russia.

Trust in police and its divisions  

More than half of Russians say they trust in policemen in their region (62%); over the recent year this percentage has grown by 5 p.p. (57% in 2021). In recent four years this percentage did not fall below 54%. Over the ten years the level of trust in police officers has increased 1.7-fold (35% in 2012), and the share of those who definitely trust them has risen five-fold – from 3% to 15%. A third of Russians do not trust police officers (32% vs 61% in 2012). So the corresponding index* has hit 30 points this year, which is an all-time high. 

  • Those who report higher trust levels are mainly young respondents aged 18-24 (73%), budget sector workers (70%) and respondents who adhere to hybrid media consumption model (69%). The percentage is also higher in rural area and the Far Eastern federal district (67% and 70% respectively). 
  • The higher the assessments of the financial situation, the higher the trust levels: 77%of those who are satisfied with their financial situation gave positive responses (vs 44% of those who are not satisfied with their financial situation).

Trust in particular police divisions also show positive changes. Generally, the share of respondents who trust in eleven police divisions varies between 40% and 64%. Most of Russians show trust in transport police and dispatch centre officers. The corresponding index** hit 45 points for the former (+26 p.; 19 p. in 2012), and 42 points for the latter (+ 22 p. compared to ten years ago). Youth liaison officers are ranked third - half of respondents trust them (55%); the index reached 38 points (vs. 26 p. in 2012). This is followed by district police officers (35 p.; +18 p. since 2012) and criminal investigators (35 p.; +20 p.). Trust in patrol guards has strengthened (-3 p. in 2012 vs 34 p. today). Trust in road traffic police has considerably strengthened - the index gained 48 points (-14 points vs. 34 points in 2022).

The index of trust in tourist policemen has reached 31 points this year (+5 p. since 2018); trust in investigators hit 27 points. Migration police and drug control officers are least trustworthy policemen, according to Russian views (23 p. and 17 p. respectively).

*Trust in regional police Index shows how much Russians trust in police in their region.  The higher the index value, the higher the trust levels are.  The index is based on the question: “Do you trust or distrust the police officers in your region?” using the difference of positive and negative answers. The index is measured in points and can vary between −100 and 100.

**Trust in particular police divisions Index shows how much Russians trust in different police divisions. The higher the index value, the higher the trust levels are. The index is based on the question: “Please assess the level of your trust or distrust in the following police divisions…” using the difference of positive and negative answers. The index is measured in points and can vary between −100 and 100.

VCIOM-Sputnik Russian nationwide telephone survey was conducted 5 November, 2022. A total of 1,600 Russians aged 18 and over took part in the survey. Survey method: telephone interviews, stratified random sample based on a complete list mobile phone numbers in use in Russia. The data were weighted according to social and 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, November 5, 2022 survey:  cooperation rate (CR)* = 0.8093; minimum response rate (MRR)** = 0.0217; response rate (RR)*** = 0.1452. Based on corporate standards: https://profi.wciom.ru/principy_standarty/korporativnyj-standart-po-izmereniyu-rezultativnosti-oprosov-sputnik-vciom/

 

* 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.

 

Do you trust or distrust the police officers in your region?

(closed-ended question, one answer, % of total respondents)

 

2012 *

2018

2019

2020

2021

2022

Definitely trust

3

15

13

15

15

15

Likely trust

32

42

41

43

42

47

Likely distrust

40

21

21

19

19

21

Definitively distrust

21

14

18

16

16

11

Don’t know

4

8

7

7

8

6

Trust in regional police index  

-26

22

15

23

22

30

 

Please evaluate your level of trust in the following police divisions …
(closed-ended question, one answer per each line, % of total respondents)

   

Completely trust

Likely trust

Likely distrust

Completely distrust

Don’t know

Trust index

Transport police (railroad, maritime, aviation)

2012  *

8

45

26

8

13

19

2018  

21

44

10

4

21

51

2019  

17

49

10

5

19

51

2020  

15

47

10

4

24

48

2021  

16

43

8

5

27

46

2022  

13

50

12

6

19

45

Police contact center

2012  *

8

45

25

8

14

20

2018  

17

46

13

8

16

42

2019  

14

49

15

8

14

40

2020   

15

50

13

8

14

44

2021

18

45

14

7

15

42

2022  

13

51

15

7

14

42

Youth liaison officers

2012  *

10

43

20

7

20

26

2018  

19

38

11

8

24

38

2019  

16

41

13

7

23

37

2020   

17

42

12

7

22

40

2021  

19

37

12

6

25

38

2022  

16

39

11

6

28

38

District police officer

2012  *

8

46

28

9

9

17

2018  

18

43

14

10

15

37

2019  

15

44

17

10

14

32

2020   

17

46

15

9

13

39

2021  

19

44

15

9

12

39

2022  

18

42

15

10

15

35

Criminal investigation

2012  *

8

41

27

7

17

15

2018  

15

43

15

8

19

35

2019  

13

42

16

10

19

29

2020   

14

44

15

9

18

34

2021  

16

42

14

8

19

36

2022  

16

41

13

9

21

35

Patrol guards

2012  *

5

38

35

11

11

-3

2018  

13

43

18

10

16

28

2019  

11

43

19

12

15

23

2020  

13

45

19

11

12

28

2021  

14

44

17

10

15

31

2022  

14

45

16

9

16

34

Tourist police  

2018  

12

34

14

6

34

26

2019  

10

34

16

8

32

20

2020  

8

32

9

5

46

26

2021

7

30

8

6

49

23

2022

8

32

6

3

51

31

Investigators  

2018

12

38

16

9

25

25

2019

10

40

19

11

20

20

2020  

10

40

18

12

20

20

2021

12

39

17

11

20

23

2022

12

40

14

11

23

27

Migration police

2018

13

34

14

11

28

22

2019

11

35

15

12

27

19

2020

10

35

17

9

29

19

2021

11

33

14

9

33

21

2022

10

33

14

6

37

23

Drug control

2018

17

32

16

14

21

19

2019

14

31

20

15

20

10

2020  

15

32

18

14

21

15

2021

15

30

17

13

25

15

2022

15

31

15

14

25

17

Road safety

2012 *

5

34

38

15

8

-14

2018

13

40

19

15

13

19

2019

10

42

22

15

11

15

2020

13

40

23

15

9

15

2021

14

41

20

14

12

21

2022

16

46

18

10

10

34

 

*Face-to-face household interviews were used (“Express” project); stratified multi-stage sample based on socio-demographic quotas; representative of the Russian population aged 18 and older by type of settlement, gender, age, education and federal district. Sample size: 1,600 respondents.

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