The Russian Police are so different from what you consider Police in America. In America a Policeman seems to be responsible for everything in his jurisdiction. An American cop can pull you over for traffic violations as well as come to your house if a disturbance happens. In America that same cop that just gave you a ticket two hours ago in your city, may be the same cop that comes when you have a break-in into your house…
This is not true in Russia! I have had a hard time getting a grasps on the idea that a cop has only one job and that job is a specific part of society. If he is a road police then take it for what it says. (Road Police only.) You do not have a road police give a crap about if your home was just robbed. Just the same you do not have a cop that will come to your home if you are robbed and care about if you break all the laws in the world with your car. You will not see very many cops have a car to drive around in and the odds of being pulled over by a cop is virtually nil. Russia has road cop stations and they are well marked in advance in case you need to go around them. As we travel Russia it is pretty easy to tell where the road cops are at most times. The city local police walk a beat around our town and they do have a couple of vehicles to get around when needed…
It is very strange to see a car wreck and cops are nearby who act like they do not even see that wreck. Example you have police who are working near a building, (like say a train station) they are doing their job and checking people for issues around the train station. But there could be a 10 car pileup happen in front of the train station and they could care less about the 10 car pileup. In fact they may not even look up from their job… 🙂
They have no responsibility to that 10 car pile up and I have many times in the past said something like: “Why are they all over there when there is a 10 car pile up over here?” That is when Sveta looks at me like, Are you crazy! That is not their job. I have learned to accept the way it is, but it just shows that what is ingrained in you takes a long time, if ever, to leave your thoughts and feelings…
A wreck in Russia means that you will wait for hours before a road cop comes to deal with the wreck. Yes and even if a road cop is close enough to throw rocks at, he will not help you. Unless he would be the one called to take care of the wreck…
I use to find it irritating when I first came to Russia. I thought it was wrong. But after 5 years I do not see it that way anymore. I appreciate the fact that one man does not have the power to control my life in multiple ways. A road cop is about cars. He cannot and could careless about my passport. That road cop only cares about my insurance, drivers licenses and car registration. He can not bother me about anything personally associated with my stay in Russia. Now there are certain police who can check your passport and other paperwork. They are all over the metro and train stations. But they could care less if you drive a car and if they knew that you did not have a drivers license and they watched you drive off, they would not care…
So if a cop is walking a beat down the sidewalk in our city and I drove by him at 200 km per hour in a 40 km per hour zone. He could care less. I doubt he would even call anyone. In the same token, if you wrecked right in front of him. He could care less. I doubt he would even call anyone. But if you are mugging a babushka then he will do something. But in Russia if you try to mug a babushka then you will get your butt kicked by that babushka. They are pretty tough… 🙂
An off duty cop is just that. Off duty! He is just like anyone else at that point. We have several that live in our building and they definitely keep a low profile. Like I said babushkas are tough and that is who rules the building…
I like it that way and hope that it does not change in Russia. That is why I love Russia…
Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia!
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