By BERT WHYTE ribune Staff Correspondent eg em Nag gee Fc robles of Yercrowded es: t Militis Badquariers Sh | CRIME MOSCOW RUSSIAN friend of ours had her pocketbook stolen while boarding a bus the other day. In the crush of get- ting on the bus the thief shoved his hand into her open handbag and grabbed her pocketbook, which luckily contained only small change. Another. woman passenger saw him and began shouting, but the pickpocket managed to jump off the bus as it pulled away from the curb, and escaped. How prevalent is crime in the Soviet Union? American papers “have used the word “crisis” in describing recent measures tak- en here to curb hooliganism. I attended a press conference given by Alexei Kudryavtsev, Vice-Minister for -Public Order of the Russian Federation, and learned that crime is actually decreasing. There was a drop of 15 percent between 1961 and 1965, and this trend is continu- ing. Then why the stepped-up measures to combat crime, and the Supreme Soviet Decree of last July entitled, “On Greater Responsibility for Hooliganism.”. “Because,” said Kudryavtsev, “we believe our socialist society has all the necessary conditions to do away with delinquents and criminals. The purpose of the new Decree is to combat hooli- ganism and drunkenness. The reason we take hooliganism seriously is that it leads to more serious crimes. Today’s hooligan is tomorrow’s criminal.” He went on to say there are no crimes arising from econo- mic necessity in the Soviet Union. Hooliganism is the heri- tage of a dark past, and in. part a residue of the Second World War. Also, he continued the home life of many families is far from satisfactory; too many: peple are crowded into too little space. The tremendous building boom - will ease this problem in the next few years. 1 wanted to know if Soviet au- thorities had ever made a seri- ous study of the relationship be- tween the housing shortage and crime. In the discussion that fol- lowed I gathered that no statis- tical study has been made, though it is realized that over- crowded apartments generate friction and result in an increase SSR in vandalism and hooligan acts. More crimes are committed in crowded cities than in the coun- tryside. In the villages petty theft seems to be the most com- mon type of -crime. In many cases, where small stores were broken into, the thief usually stole only vodka, salted fish and candy. We .got onto the subject of drunkenness and crime. Soviet authorities are taking steps to cut down on drunkenness, but they do not. believe that prohi- bition is the answer. In some areas where local attempts were made to drastically curb the sale of: vodka, people began making their own moonshine. “Cutting down on. excessive drinking is a matter of raising cultural standards and cannot be solved simply by administrative measures,” said Kudryavtsev. Someone injected a touch of humor at this point. United Na- tions’ figures were cited to show that in France the consumption of pure alcohol was 22.9 litres per person annually, while in the Soviet Union it was only 4.7 litres. “The trouble with our Russians is that they don’t know how to drink. A Frenchman takes a whole year to consume his annual quota, but some Rus- ; sians try to swallow their. an- nual quota in one night. No won- der this leads to trouble.” Kudryavtsev said that 99 per- cent of minor cases of hooligan- ism occur under the influence of alcohol; 35 percent of all road accidents are due to drunken drivers; and 75 percent of all murders are committed while the murderer is drunk. Of course foreigners visiting the USSR consume their share, and often more than their share, of alcohol. In some port cities there are “sobering up” stations for foreign sailors. Habitual drunkards are consi- dered sick people, and are treat- ed as such. Polyclinics and hos- pitals are being established to rehabilitate alcoholics. Some crimes, like theft, are often committed on impulse and for no special reason. Kudryav- tsev “ave two examples. Last year, while the Historical Museum in Moscow was partly closed for repairs, two students without previous criminal re- cords noticed there were no LONDON e¢ PARIS * MOSCOW RIO DE JANEIRO © PEKING © NEW DELH! guards in one section under re- pair, and on sudden impulse took away some unique exhibits. The theft was quickly noticed and - the exhibits were recovered. At the beginning of this year a picture was.stolen from the Pushkin Fine Arts Museum by a worker, who also acted on im- pulse. The picture was reco- vered because the worker found no way to dispose of it. The Decree emphasizes that it is necessary for all Soviet peo- ple and orga™.izations to take part in the struggle. Trade unions, people’s brigades (assist- ants to the regular militia), house committees and _ other bodies will do their part. Special emphasis will be placed on pre- vention of crime. tee After the conference I decid- ed it would be a good idea to visit my local militia (police) station, just a couple of blocks from where I live. Moscow. is divided into districts, and the districts into what are called “micro-regions.” The chief of Micro-Region No. 110, October District, is Alexel Chuvakhin, a former Navy of- ficer who has been in police work since 1948 and has held his present post since 1953. He is 46 years old, looks tough and healthy but a trifle overweight. His hobbies are hunting and fish- ing, movies and the theatre. And he is a football fan, a rooter for the Moscow Dynamos, the team of the Militia Sports Club. With Chuvakhin was Ivan Minsev, chief of the militia de- partment of the October Dis- trict, which includes a popula- tion of half a million. He was commander of an artillery re- connaissance squad during the war, was wounded in 1944. He joined the militia in 1959. He @ BDJAKARTA told me he likes hunting but not fishing, reads a lot but loathes detective stories “because I handle too many such situations in real life.’ Married, with two children, ‘he actually has little time off from his job to indulge in his hobbies. The October Region has eight Micro-Regions, and No. 110 is five square miles in size and has a population of 75,000. Chuva- khin has a staff of about 100 militiamen, including officers, to - keep order in the region. “There are no gangs operat- ing in this region and we haven’t had an armed robbery in several years,” he told me. About a dozen persons a month are de- tained by police, of whom some are. charged with crimes. This’ figure does not include those charged with being drunk. After the Decree was published the militia began to crack down on the drunks; there were 126 ar- rested in July and 148 in Aug- ust. The heavy drinkers got the message and in September and October the number of arrests. dropped. - There, is a “children’s room” in every militia station where teen-agers and their parents are sometimes called in for a “crime prevention talk.” If a young lad has been acting “tough” and shows signs of turning into a hooligan, a heart-to-heart talk “with his parents often helps to correct matters. The militia may also send letters to his school, or if he is working, to his fac- tory trade union committee. “There have been no crimes involving teen-agers in this re- gion during the past three months,” Chuvakhin told me with some satisfaction. I wanted to know if the peo- ple generally supported the militia, or was there a hangover of fear from the Stalin period. Chuvakhin considered this ques- tion carefully, then said: “The vast majority of people support us, and this is undoubtedly a change from 15 to 20 years ago. The main criticism directed against us today is that we are not strict enough in dealing with hooliganism. The © Soviet people want to put an end to it. They feel it has no place in our socialist society.” “Did you have to tell them I’m a doctor..” January 20, 1967—PACIFIC TRIBUNE—Page 9 .