A Longitudinal Analysis of Public Satisfaction with the Police in the Volgograd Region of Russia 1998—2005

• Author: K. Michael Reynolds,Nicolai N. Demidov,Olga B. Semukhina
• Date: 01 June 2008
• DOI: 10.1177/1057567708318484
• Published date: 01 June 2008
• Subject Matter: Articles

158

A Longitudinal Analysis of Public

Satisfaction with the Police

in the Volgograd Region of Russia

1998–2005

K. Michael Reynolds

Olga B. Semukhina

Nicolai N. Demidov

Volgograd Law Academy, Russia

University of Central Florida, Orlando

This study examines public satisfaction with police in a region of Russia and empirically con-

firms that dissatisfaction remains high and pervasive in the region. A brief historical summary

is included that highlights the development of the Soviet police. The literature review includes

a discussion of both Russian and English studies that have identified various factors related

to public satisfaction with police. This study examines raw longitudinal citizen survey data

(N = 4,000) collected annually from 1998–2005 and focuses on citizen trust of criminal jus-

tice institutions and fear of crime as explanatory variables. An explanatory empirical model is

developed to test whether low levels of public satisfaction with police in Russia can be attrib-

uted to the distrust of criminal justice institutions and fear of crime. The model is grounded

in the motive-based theory of institutional trust. The findings of the study provide empirical

evidence that criminal justice institutional trust is a major explanatory factor regarding public

police satisfaction in Russia.

Keywords: police corruption; police satisfaction; public satisfaction with police; Russian

Federation; Russian policing

Introduction

Numerous studies have shown that public satisfaction with the police and other crimi-

nal justice institutions in Russia is problematic. Most of the 30 or so studies that address

this problem are in Russian and primarily descriptive (LEVDADA, 2004; ROMIR, 2005a;

WCIOM, 2001; Zvekic, 1996). About 10 of the studies published in Russia were by inde-

pendent researchers who were not employed by the government and contain some level of

analysis (Gryaznova, 2006; Gudkov, 2000; Gudkov & Dubin, 2006; Gudkov et al., 2004;

ZIRCON, 2001). Less than a dozen studies about public satisfaction with the police in

Russia have been published in English (Beck & Lee, 2002; Beck & Robertson, 2003; Davis

et al., 2004; Glinskiy, 2000; Robertson, 2005). Additionally, most of the studies were cross-

sectional and used divergent measurement concepts and variables.

The purpose of this study is to analyze and report the results of an eight-year, longitudinal

citizen survey (1998–2005) that used consistent survey items about public satisfaction with

International Criminal

Justice Review

Volume 18 Number 2

June 2008 158-189

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Reynolds et al. / A Longitudinal Analysis of Public Satisfaction 159

the police and criminal justice system. The Russian Ministry of Interior Affairs1 mandated the

survey, and it was conducted by faculty of the Volgograd Law Academy (VLA) in Volgograd,

Russia. The VLA is one of several nationally designated research centers. While the survey

instrument has limitations, it does provide the ability to track citizen attitude trends as well as

establish a baseline to evaluate a series of police and criminal justice reforms implemented in

Russia beginning in 1991. The results of this type are rarely published in Russian journals since

access to the raw data is restricted to the MVD research centers (Bezaev, 1999; Cherkasov,

2006; Tumentsev, 2002). Our review of the literature did not find any MVD research center

study results regarding public satisfaction with police published in English.

This study includes a brief historical review of the major events that have shaped polic-

ing and the criminal justice system in contemporary Russia. The USSR influence was a

major factor in the current policies and operations of criminal justice institutions in Russia.

Present-day conditions throughout Russia have been shaped by the USSR period, its tumul-

tuous collapse on December 8, 1991, along with democratization reforms and the associated

market-based economy transition. These major disruptive events have contextual relevance

regarding public satisfaction with the police (Beck & Robertson, 2005; Bel’skyi, 2004;

Fastov, 2005).

This study investigates potential associations between citizens’ fear of crime, trust of the

major Russian criminal justice institutions, and public satisfaction with police. An investi-

gation of these relationships may contribute to an enhanced understanding of the persistent

low rates of public satisfaction with the Russian police.

The study incorporates the motive-based theory of institutional trust developed by Tyler

and Huo (2002) as an analytical framework. The motive-based theory asserts that citizens’

trust of an institution depends on whether they believe their motives and best interests are

being shared and protected by the institution (Tyler & Huo, 2002). Therefore, based on

the motive-based theory of trust, as related to public-police relationships, criminal justice

institutional trust would play a major role in shaping subsequent public attitudes about

police satisfaction. It follows that public trust of the criminal justice institutions should be

included as a potential factor in an analysis related to public satisfaction with police.

The study’s results support a conclusion that despite numerous efforts of the Russian

Ministry of Interior Affairs (MVD) to improve public satisfaction with police, little change

occurred during the eight-year study period. Public satisfaction with police remained poor.

The findings also show that fluctuations in crime rates and police performance regarding

solved cases during the study period had little observed association with public-police

satisfaction. The study offers empirical evidence that some variation within public satisfac-

tion with the Russian police can be explained by a pervasive public distrust of the major

criminal justice institutions.

Historical Factors Related to Public Satisfaction

with the Police in Contemporary Russia

To more fully understand current public satisfaction with the Russian police, a brief

historical overview is provided. This overview develops the contextual framework necessary

to fully interpret this study’s analyses of recent empirical survey data related to public sat-

isfaction with the police. The overview is not intended to be comprehensive and entail the

160 International Criminal Justice Review

entire pre- and post-USSR periods but, instead, aims to provide a historical setting related

to public satisfaction with the police.

Since its creation in 1917, the Soviet police had a special relationship with Russian soci-

ety. Established by the Resolution of the Second All-Russian Congress of Soviet Councils on

November 7, 1917, the Soviet police were intended to represent and defend the new ruling

class that consisted of peasants and workers (Fastov, 2005). Moreover, it was organized to filter

out the “ideologically” weak individuals who would be unsuitable for the new regime and then

physically remove them from society by exile, imprisonment, or death (Gryaznova, 2006).

The first resolution of the newly created police ministry, known as the NKVD,2 prescribed

that every local Soviet Council of Workers and Soldiers should create a police department

from available and ideologically solid workers, peasants, and soldiers. The Instruction “About

the Organization of Workers and Peasants Police,” dated October 12, 1918, in Article 18

directly stated that only individuals supporting the Soviet ideology could be granted a mem-

bership in the Soviet police (Instruction “About the Organization of Workers and Peasants

Police,” 1918). Most historians agree that the Soviet police organization during the period

from 1917 to 1920 was not a governmental institution at all. Instead, it was a self-organized

public militia consisting of former factory workers and peasants who united to protect the

new and favorably accepted regime of Soviet Councils (Bel’skyi, 2004). Because of its nature,

from 1917 to 1920, the Soviet police received unconditional support from the classes it was

representing and vigorous resistance from the groups whose rights and social positions were

seriously damaged by the new Soviet regime (Fastov, 2005).

The “new economic policy”3 conducted by the Soviet government between 1920 and

1930 created a strong economic foundation for the new Soviet police. The NKVD received

its own budget, buildings, uniforms, and established local structures in every region of the

Soviet Union (Fastov, 2005).

During the decade from 1930 to 1940, a totalitarian regime emerged and transformed

the nature of public-police relations in Soviet Russia. The police were no longer viewed

by the public as a self-organized protection group. Instead, the police became a repressive

mechanism of the Soviet state. Agents of the police were participating in massive arrests,

torture, and exiling citizens as dictated by Stalin’s regime. During this period, the public

feared and respected the police agency’s power (Bel’skyi, 2004).

Khrushchev introduced an era of liberalization after Stalin’s death in 1953. These

measures had an impact on public-police relationships in Soviet Russia. To avoid the image

of the police as a closed organization with the primary purpose of protecting state and

ruling party interests, the Soviet government gave the public limited access to the local

police structures responsible for protecting the public order. This was accomplished in 1959

by the creation of an organization known as Teams of Police Volunteers (Fastov, 2005).

The Teams of Police Volunteers were self-organized groups of nonprofessionals who

were charged with the protection of public order in a given neighborhood, and they were

considered a structural part of the Soviet police. The Council of Ministers adopted the

Resolution for the Teams of Police Volunteers on March 2, 1959, and by 1962, 130,000

teams were in place (Fastov, 2005). Although there is no empirical evidence that suggests

that the Teams of Police Volunteers improved public-police relationships in Soviet Russia,

Russian historians recorded their existence, and it appeared as an attempt to improve

public satisfaction with the police (Bel’skyi, 2004; Fastov, 2005).