CHECHNYA LINKS LIBRARY

Chechen police salaries cut

By Ruslan Isayev

CHECHNYA - Service in the Chechen police force is losing its popularity and attractiveness. The reason for this is a sharp cut in police salaries. Men who in earlier, more troubled years earned monthly salaries of 20,000 or 30,000 roubles will now take home 10,000 roubles at best.

This decision by the Russian Interior Ministry is connected with the fact that the situation in Chechnya has stabilized, and there is therefore no need to spend huge sums on the maintenance of public security in the country.

The decision is obviously not to the liking of many police officers, who have felt a sharp blow to their pockets. Service in the police force previously enjoyed the greatest popularity with Chechnya’s young, who will now no longer look with envy at the men in epaulettes.

Some officers make no secret of their anger at the salary cuts. They believe that they have simply been “conned”.

 “I didn’t join the police for ideological reasons, but because the pay was good. People think the situation has been normalized. I know that’s not true, because it’s easier to see going on in the republic from the inside," says a police officer who wishes to remain anonymous.

The number of disgruntled police officers is increasing at the same rate as the salaries are being cut. Observers believe that in this situation the level of corruption and extortion on the part of law enforcement officials may grow, and that things may revert to how they were five or six years ago, when most of the crimes committed in the republic went undetected.

(MD/T)