Russian Whistleblower Cop On YouTube 176
AHuxley notes a series of YouTube videos that have gone viral in Russia, in which senior police officer Alexei Dymovsky — in full uniform — details police corruption and calls on Vladimir Putin to act. "[Dymovsky says:] 'Maybe you don't know about us, about simple cops, who live and work and love their work. I'm ready to tell you everything. I'm not scared of my own death. I will show you the life of cops in Russia, how it is lived, with all the corruption and all the rest – with ignorance, rudeness, recklessness, with honest officers killed because they have stupid bosses.' His series of three 2-to-7-minute long videos released over the past week have together garnered 1 million hits on YouTube, and have spread across Russia. Dymovsky was promptly fired after the clips spread across the Internet, and a local prosecutor has opened an investigation into libel. An interior ministry source accused him of working for foreign agents and hinted that the format of Dymovsky's complaint was a problem, using a medium that remains largely free of government control." It's best to visit the Global Post link with NoScript and Flashblock enabled. Here's a Google cache link in case it's needed.
If cop does the same in US, does he keep his job? (Score:5, Interesting)
Just want to know what would happen if a NY cop were to do the exact same thing, if he would have a job the following day?
Seems like good intention that was doomed from the start. No police force would allow this officer to continue his job. Its unfortunate but true.
As for corruption, my family works work in the restaurant business and my uncle works in construction in the NYC area, they can tell you all you need to know about buying city inspectors and cops on the take.
And that's not even going into politics... oy!
Yakov (Score:3, Interesting)
Isn't it a running joke about how bad the Russian police force is? Seems like any interior or exterior complaint through the expected media doesn't do a damn thing.
Oh yeah, preface that with "In Soviet Russia."
Corruption (Score:5, Interesting)
Corruption didn't disappear with the advent of Putin. He only makes big, theatrical gestures, but has no interest in fighting corruption, because it is this corrupt system that is his lifeline. I've learned years ago, that journalists are the *only* true force opposed to corruption. I come from an ex-communist country where corruption is rampant (and I hate it there, because I can't stand that corruption, so I'll never go back), but the few bright lights of hope are the journalists who uncover schemes and collusions - and then bear the consequences.
Well, in Russia these lights are all but quenched. Putin's regime has dealt with journalists so brutally, the few that aren't dead just fell into line.
Re:If cop does the same in US, does he keep his jo (Score:2, Interesting)
No corruption is allready rife in the US - we just promote the most corrupt to ceo's and those with lesser talent for corruption to Congress etc.
i was born in the soviet union (Score:4, Interesting)
i had to cry watching this.
Related to Medvede's state of the nation (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:If cop does the same in US, does he keep his jo (Score:1, Interesting)
Re:If cop does the same in US, does he keep his jo (Score:2, Interesting)
The US economy is strong because there are a lot of good honest people in America. If the corruption in the US becomes rampant, like in the FSU, it will be a bad thing for every one.
So is it the economy, or everything?
I'd suggest a certain level of corruption is A Good Thing.
Years ago when I lived in Chicago, it was customary to offer a small donation when pulled over by the police for speeding. Existing tickets could be be handled similarly (but more discretely) in traffic court; it wasn't uncommon for the average person to have the glove compartment, or in my case, the trunk, filled with old and unpaid parking tickets. The police officers walking the sidewalks ate donuts, openly smoked cigars, and talked to everyone, including the friendly black girls hanging out on street corners. Life was fine.
When I arrived in LA, I discovered a very different world. The police department continues in the Parker [wikipedia.org] tradition, which could be described as both professional and militaristic. Traffic violations are treated with the same seriousness as major felonies, and a routine stop for a minor infraction can involve additional patrol cars showing up, all with flashing lights. A "Get out and spread your arms and legs" isn't uncommon. And that's just for white guys with late model cars.
I suspect the problem with LA is that the police don't have friendly black girls to talk to. It wouldn't be possible, anyway. The police are required to shut down major thoroughfares and get everyone people off the sidewalks and roads when the bars close.
Then, there's the example of New York a few years ago when the mafia was forced out of the garbage business. Respectable corporations with proven track records for efficient waste disposal moved in, prices shot up, and services went down. Everyone complained (including major corporations), but corruption was gone.
Widespread corruption can be a problem, and it certainly is in certain countries or localities, but a certain level of it, to "grease the wheels" so to speak, makes life livable.
Re:Dead man walking (Score:3, Interesting)
He will probably do fine. He is enjoying media attention right now and has a strong populist appeal. He got offered a meeting with the Minister of the Internal Affairs, and refused: he wants an audience with Putin. And he is not a kind of a whistle-blower who exposes a particular case of corruption, he mostly talks about how militsia (police) sucks, how it's ineffecient, does not protect people, does not reward its own employees. What drove him to the edge, in his own words, is also telling:
He has a [6-yo] step-daughter Diana. She has a computer. And his own computer broke. He needed to do some urgent job -- something with narcotics. He asked to use his daughter's computer. She gave it to him, of course, and he brought the computer to work. For a few days it was used by the staff to work with documents. Then his daughter asked for her computer back, and they went to get it together. "Me and my daughter are walking down the hall. I have the monitor and she has the wires. We meet my boss, and he says: where are you taking the computer? I explained that it was my daughter's and I am taking it home. He nodded and we left the building and went to a bus stop. Then the inventory guy cought up with us and started yelling that we need to take the computer back. 'You don't have the right to take it out! Where are the documents about entry?' They took the computer and told me to get an official statement. All of this was very unpleasant, especially because the humiliation in front of the daughter."
http://echo.msk.ru/blog/video/634214-echo/
It's a big drama about a clueless cop who got fed up by rules and regulations and went on to rant mostly about shitty working conditions and insufficient compensation. And drama is just what Russians like instead of actual politics, so I predict great things for this guy.
You have no clue what governments are, do you... (Score:3, Interesting)
Wow. Talk about swallowing the propaganda.
Go take a look at reality sometime. Visit your local council. Take a look at the nepotism, the corruption, the incompetence, the arse covering, the back scratching.
This is what government *is*, not what it's supposed to be or might theoretically be. National government is exactly the same, only *MUCH* bigger. How much exactly has the government enslaved future generations for? Who did they give it to?
The difference in Russia is there is less hypocrisy and more shooting. So I doubt they missed the point at all. They were just being clear what the point is.
I am willing to donate money. (Score:2, Interesting)
If he should lose the legal fight against the local and national governments of Russia, I will contribute money to any effort helping him to flee Russia.
Most of us Slashdotters are arm-chair political analysts opining about the world. We should get out of our chairs and -- this time -- make a difference in that world. Let us stop talking. Let us start doing. We should help this guy.
Re:Dead man walking (Score:3, Interesting)
He probably took it in because they have no budget to buy new ones...the part where it's made clear that he's not the only one using it is pretty telling. People were probably freaking out because it was the only working machine in the office.
Re:If cop does the same in US, does he keep his jo (Score:2, Interesting)
Just want to know what would happen if a NY cop were to do the exact same thing, if he would have a job the following day?
Bullshit. You claim to live in NY, yet you know nothing of unions? Especially the police unions. If they can keep people on even though they took bribes, they could surely do it for complaining about them.
Re:If cop does the same in US, does he keep his jo (Score:3, Interesting)
your basic local cop is usually not corrupt.
True ... but among those basic uncorrupted officials are some serious assholes. But that's another story.
Re:Dead man walking (Score:3, Interesting)
Yes, improved.
You see, the Tzars were far worse than anything Stalin ever did, and for much, much longer, but Western history (for reasons purely coincidental - I am sure, ha!) somehow neglects to highlight (never you mind to trumpet from every roof, like it does with the Communist abuses) their countless purges, mass exterminations, internal deportations and endless famines, combined with an occasional idiotic war for some royal cousin's pride, all while maintaining a system of utter slavery where 90%+ population lived in hovels as de-facto property of the less then 1%.
That is why the Revolution occurred. If the majority of Russians were not so oppressed and abused, the Communists would have found little fertile ground for their ideology to grow, but Russia was the place where the majority despaired under the yoke of their "betters". And so that majority of Russians supported the Reds. And the rest is history.