Dangerous police PR methods
Severodonetsk police
Oleksy Svyetikov reports that the city of Severodonetsk unlike other cities in the Luhansk oblast is suspiciously free of crime. During the last month from 9 May to 8 June, the Regional Police Department reported 176 incidents in 14 cities in the Luhansk oblast. Luhansk itself had by far the most with 65, but the smallest number was 11 in Krasny Luch. Except for Severodonetsk whose police reported only 3 incidents.
In fact, Oleksy Svyetikov, Editor of “Third Sector” and its Internet version “Today in Severodonetsk”, and head of the Luhansk branch of the Committee of Voters of Ukraine [CVU], writes the situation in Severodonetsk is appalling. He cites statistics from 2011 which indicate that the city is in fifth place in terms of number of crimes.
The problem is thus in the total lack of openness within that particular police department.
Svyetikov writes that his newspaper will continue to provide information not misleading statistics. The question, however, also arises about the reliability of other such statistics around Ukraine.