Contents

Preface

Reforming law enforcement: overcoming arbitrary work practices
Crisis of public confidence
A dysfunctional force: causes of abuse
The need for reform
The problem of control
The police and the public
Suggested areas of reform

CIVILIANS AND THE POLICE

Arbitrariness in police work: typical practices
(By Olga Shepeleva)
Violations predetermined by the specifics of the police service
and the ways the police functions
Violations predetermined by the aspiration of the officers
tosatisfy their personal interests and needs
Violations related to the attempt to protect and consolidate
thecorporate and personal status of officer
Conclusion

The main problems ofthecontemporary police (By Olga Shepeleva and Asmik Novikova)
Crisis of managerial system
Lack of qualified and motivated personnel
Lack of resources
The situation of file and rank policemen: adaptation to the system
Ineffectiveness of the control over the police’s activities

Principles and Directives forReforming of the Law enforcement
(By Asmik Novikova and Olga Shepeleva)

Social profile of rank and file police officers in the contemporary
law enforcement system (By Asmik Novikova)

Appendix. The expert network of the project: brief description


Preface

The book «Reforming law enforcement: overcoming arbitrary work practices» presents
theresults of the first full fledged research project conducted by the Demos Centre, anNGO created in 2004 by initiative of the Moscow Helsinki Group and other human rights organizations.

The research was conducted within the framework of a wider project «Development an expert
network of regional NGOs» aimed to promote research on the matters or public interest and main issues affecting human rights, and elaboration of grounded and balanced recommendations to improve respect for human rights in Russia. The named project had been performed in the period from January 2004 to September 2005 by the Demos Centre and the Moscow Helsinki Group withthe financial support of the Ford Foundation and the National Endowment for Democracy.

Thirteen regional NGOs (described in the attachment to the book) took part in the project.
Our regional partners carried out researches, analyzed the information gathered from the research and participated in public activities taken within the framework of the project.

The subject of our research — arbitrariness in the law enforcement bodies’ work — represents one of the most actual and important problems affecting human rights in Russia. Research had been aimed to examine everyday activities of law enforcement as well as toanalyze factors providing for existence of certain working practices. We had been convinced that on only the basis of a thorough analysis of everyday practices and of the conditions affecting law enforcement process it would have been possible to develop recommendations for the reduction of arbitrariness and abuse in this sphere and tostimulate and make more fruitful the public debate on this issue.

The book summarizes the findings of our research and contains articles analyzing the
situation of the police and of law enforcement bodies, practice of their work and relations
between society and law enforcement bodies.

Our research and the publication of the present book would have been impossible without
the excellent work of our regional experts: Andrei Blem (Barnaul), Natalia Ermilova
(Yekaterinburg), Anastasia Lukjanenko (Krasnoyarsk), Elena Pershakova (Perm), Igor Sazhin
(Syktyvkar), Valentina Sharipova (Tver) and Oleg Tsvetkov (Majkop).We would like to express
our gratitude and hope in future cooperation.

We would like to thank Jakov Gilinsky (member of sociological department of the Russian
Academy of Sciences), Alexander Gorelik (dean of the department of criminal law, Krasnoyarsk State University), Igor Kalyapin (chair of the Nizhniy Novgorod Committee against Torture), Leonid Kosals (professor of economical sociology, High School of Economy), Aleksey Titkov (expert of the Institute for Regional Politics).

We would also like to express our appreciation for the support given to our project by the
Internet channel Polit.Ru and by the magazine Neprikosnovenníi Zapas as well as by the Moscow Carnegie Centre which allowed us to present and discuss with experts results of our research.

A great contribution to our project was given by the Public Verdict Foundation specialized
in providing legal aid to the victims of law enforcement bodies abuses. The documents made
available by the Foundation served us as an additional source ofinformation. In collaboration with the Foundation we also organized a series of public events among which – press conferences, seminars and briefings.

The book «Reforming law enforcement: overcoming arbitrary work practices» presents the
results of the first full fledged research project conducted by the Demos Centre, anNGO cre
ated in 2004 by initiative of the Moscow Helsinki Group and other human rights organizations.

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