On May 27 (Wednesday) at 6:00 p.m., a rally titled “For a Police Force That Serves Citizens!” will take place at Triumfalnaya Square (Mayakovskaya metro station) in Moscow. The rally is being organized by the NAROD movement and the TIGR-Moscow movement, with the support of various civic organizations, deputies at all levels, and concerned Muscovites. The event has been officially approved by the Moscow mayor’s office. OUR DEMANDS Minister Nurgaliyev must resign! What do you think: how many people must die at the hands of uniformed bosses driven mad by impunity, how many must be beaten in police stations, how many bribes must be squeezed out of our pockets before Minister Nurgaliyev finally resigns? We have an answer to that question: ENOUGH! Nurgaliyev, it’s time for you to go. And be glad you’re not being told to leave “with your belongings” (i.e., under arrest). Police precinct chiefs must be elected by citizens! Why is a person who has more power than a mayor and a deputy combined appointed rather than elected? We have already seen where that leads in the case of Yevsyukov, the head of the Tsaritsyno police precinct. We are convinced that precinct chiefs should be elected by direct vote for terms of 1–2 years. Elect them, and then after a year or two, let’s see. Are you doing the job? Has the neighborhood become safer? Then keep working. If not, we’ll find someone else—the salary of a precinct chief is not small. Neighborhood police officers should earn a minister’s salary! Thirty years ago, district police officers in Moscow (and not only there) worked conscientiously, not just out of fear. One reason was the guaranteed provision of housing after a certain period of service. A district officer had an incentive to work actively in the area under his supervision and to pay attention to residents’ complaints, since they were his neighbors too. Today’s district officer is an exhausted, overworked Interior Ministry employee, worn out by idiotic “heightened alert” campaigns and emergency rush jobs, and already indifferent to everything, surviving on a miserable salary. Our position is this: money should go not to those warming chairs in ministerial offices, but to those who work with people, on the ground. OMON riot police units should be transferred to the army! OMON (Special Purpose Police Detachments, riot police) have become an instrument of intimidation and fear against citizens. In Moscow, it has already become routine for OMON to be sent to break up peaceful public gatherings—for example, protests against infill development. There should be no special police units whose purpose is beating citizens. Such special units belong in the ranks of the Russian army, where there will be work for them. Handguns for the people! Our police bosses scare us by saying: “If we give you weapons, you’ll just shoot each other.” But so far, it’s they who are shooting at us, not the other way around. And it seems likely that even in the vodka-clouded mind of shooter Yevsyukov, the desire to pick up a Makarov pistol would never have arisen if he had known he might face an adequate response. And how many people robbed and beaten by street thugs could have saved their lives and health? It is necessary to legalize the sale of short-barreled rifled firearms (handguns) to the public and to simplify the procedure for obtaining them as much as possible. Come to the rally! Let’s make the authorities hear us! I won’t add anything on my own. The issue of electing police precinct chiefs (sheriffs) is long overdue. As for civilian firearms, there’s nothing more to say. The main thing is to hand out guns to citizens, and after that we’ll figure things out ourselves.. If you support these slogans, please come and help spread the word. Thank you