Why are policemen seen as criminals?

Many Russians do not trust the police as they consider servicemen a part of the criminal world, rather than enforcers of the law, says sociologist Boris Kagarlitsky.

“If you get in touch with the police you discover that there are some people who do their job well, and some who don’t. But the general image is very negative because of corruption most of all, and also because many people, who serve in the police, later move to private security agencies, which are often linked with the mafia. In that sense there’s no clear division between the police and crime,” Kagarlitsky says.