I just realized that it is now 11-11-12, which means that it is veterans' day in the USA. Today was militsia day here in Russia, which was a decently big holiday. My host dad is retired from the militsia (police), so people were calling him all day wishing him a good holiday. The relationship between the police and the people here in Russia differs considerably from the situation in the US. I wouldn't say that Americans love police, but we generally respect them and trust them to handle our problems. If someone stole my car or if I had a problem with someone, I wouldn't hesitate to call the police. Here in Russia, people often consider police to be mean or bad people, and they don't trust them to take care of their problems.

People, therefore, don't have much respect for the police. Maybe that lack of respect is warranted -there certainly is corruption and abuse of power among the police--but a lot of it is rooted in a long history of repression and the use of the police by the government to keep the people from exercising their will. And don't think that that is just a Soviet tradition--the police in tsarist Russia were the model for the Soviet police. Because of this long history, the police here aren't viewed as law enforcers but rather as oppressors who try to make life tough for regular people. Is this preconception accurate? Are the police in Russia worse than the police in America? That is hard to say, and there certainly are a lot of good people who serve in the Russian police. Regardless, I try to stay out of their way.