Out With Militsia in with Politsia

Out With Militsia in with Politsia

On 1 March 2011, the new ordenance on Police came into being. No major surprise, as this giant piece of reform has been in the works for some time and has been debated on one television site after another, for the better part of the past half year. But what does it mean?

Well, it is more then just a change in names, from the revolutionary Marxist term Militsia to the monarchist term Politsia. It is even more then the up coming change of uniforms from the old Soviet hold backs of the militsia to the pseudo-Tsarist uniforms of the new Politsia. Indeed, it is a whole new mentality and a new view.

First amongst things, is the new mentality to be rammed into the heads of Our Civil Servants that they are Civil Servants. No longer will they be taught that they are here to regulate and manage the society, as the word Militsia dictates. Instead they will be taught that they are there to protect the public, that they are there to serve. Furthermore, though this is already happening, when ever a Politsayski stops a person, they must present themselves with their rank and name. If the person is being arrested, they must now be read their rights, which includes the right to a lawyer and for the first time, they will be given the right to a phone call.

Furthermore, after the bottom 20% of the force is released from duty: fired, the remaining Politseski will undergo career training. First and foremost, they will learn the Russian constitution, the obvious mentality being: how do you defend the rights of the people if you do not know them yourself. Next, as the career grows, they will be forced to learn psychology, public relations, foreign languages and so on. Added to that, the provincial and municipal two thirds of the police budget will now be only handled by the federal budget, this will remove much of the temptation for bribes. The problem is, often enough, the local administrations would steal the provincial and municipal portions of the police pay, so the police were only getting 1/3rd of their pay. Additionally, any politsasiki who stays clean for 15 years, will get a government bought apartment to own.

But as with all such things, it is more then a matter of switching on a light and seeing things happen. These changes will take time to impliment in our giant nation and will take longer for the older Politsia to absorb and cast aside their Militsia psychology.