Paul
Goble
Staunton, November 4 – Andrey Pivovarov,
a Moscow commentator, reports what many have long suspected: Under Vladimir
Putin, the Russian police are so heavily committed to dealing with
demonstrations and protests that officers sometimes don’t have the time to
devote to their primary job of fighting crime.
In a blogpost on the Kasparov
portal, he says that when he reported a theft to the police at the local
precinct last weekend, the officer was extremely prompt and polite but said his
colleagues couldn’t do anything until Monday: all its officers had been
detailed to control demonstrations (kasparov.ru/material.php?id=59FCC309E1158).
What happened to Pivovarov has
undoubtedly happened to others. What is more serious is that criminals
certainly know this as well and may target people precisely during times when
they know the police are protecting the state against demonstrators and thus
unable to pursue them quickly when an arrest would be most probable.
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