Here on the Internet there are opinions on this matter:
Does Russia need snitches? - Opinions of parliamentarians
Since 2012, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation will officially pay the Russians for information that will help solve crimes or catch criminals - up to 300 thousand rubles for a denunciation, depending on the value of the information.
Until now, law enforcement agencies paid only for the services of specially hired full-time agents. According to one of the department’s employees, earlier it was necessary to use the “black cash desk” to pay for the services of such people, now the ministry wants to make such an allocation legal. For this, the Ministry of Internal Affairs sent a letter to the government with a request to annually additionally allocate to the department 280 million rubles to pay for the services of freelance informants.
As you know, in Russia and in most developed countries, the attitude towards voluntary informing the police (and other authorities) varies diametrically. If it’s completely natural for an American to call the police and point out an offense of which he has become a witness or at least he simply suspects, then in Russia this is generally condemned (especially in cases where they inform a person with whom he is connected - neighbor, colleague, etc.). Even the words associated with this action (“denunciation”, “informer”, “informer”) are sharply negatively colored.
Such an attitude is brought up from childhood: to indicate to a teacher a classmate who uses a cheat sheet is natural for an American and unacceptable for a Russian - he will be condemned not only by fellow practitioners, but also by the teacher and parents. In the same way, in Russia it is customary to “cover” whenever possible the omissions, absences and delays of colleagues, and not report them to the authorities. Meanwhile, active and voluntary cooperation with all kinds of authorities (starting with the teacher and ending with the police) is the most important condition for building a Western-style democracy. It is it that largely explains, for example, the incomparably less corrupt nature of this very government: its colleagues will expose the dishonest.
A survey of clergy conducted by Regions.ru showed that our society is not yet ready to take such a measure. As the mufti of the Rostov region Jafar Bikmaev notes, "our society is not yet ready to honestly and conscientiously cooperate with law enforcement agencies, without slander and in vain in relation to people disliked by someone."
In turn, Priest Valery Bulannikov, cleric of the Church of St. Nicholas in Otradnoy emphasizes that in the beginning it is necessary "to build a civil society itself, one for all." “In a society dominated by law, which is higher than clan and group relations, which is the same for everyone, they’re talking not about snitching and denunciation, but about civil vigilance,” he notes.
What do you think, should we break the Russian tradition of “not giving up our own people”? Is it possible? How do you assess the intention of the police to pay denunciations? With such questions REGIONS.RU/"News of the Federation "appealed to representatives of the upper and lower houses of parliament.
The parliamentarians were very doubtful of the plans of the Ministry of Internal Affairs to pay citizens for information that helps in solving crimes. According to them, the implementation of this idea alien to the Russian mentality is fraught with abuse. However, other opinions were also expressed.
"He sees nothing shameful" in the plans of the Ministry of Internal Affairs to pay the Russians up to 300 thousand rubles for information that will help solve the crimes, First Deputy Chairman of the Federation Council Committee on Natural Resources and Environmental Protection, representative in the Federation Council from the Moscow Region Government, reserve lieutenant general Nikolai Churkin.
"They do not contradict either law or morality," the senator said, emphasizing that "scoundrels should not be harbored, but disclosed."
The parliamentarian is convinced that this initiative will serve the cause of "self-education of Russian citizens, disciplines them." As an example, Churkin cited Germany and a number of other European countries, where, according to him, the level of legal awareness of citizens is "much higher."
The politician considers it unnecessary to talk about the mentality of Russians. "We must live by the standards of European standards, when, in particular, reporting to the police about offenses is a manifestation of a civil position," Nikolai Churkin points out.
He called the plans of the Ministry of Internal Affairs to pay Russians up to 300 thousand rubles for information that would help solve the crimes, the chairman of the Federation Council Commission on Natural Monopolies, the representative in the Federation Council from the executive body of state power of the Belgorod region Nikolai Ryzhkov.
“Firstly, we’ll associate such people with scammers, informers. Secondly, there will certainly be scammers who, in order to earn extra money, will report on everyone in a row. And thirdly, it’s possible that intelligence agencies will start manipulating money, explaining the high costs of information fees, "the senator outlined the possible development of the situation.
As the parliamentarian admitted, the Ministry of Internal Affairs’s intention made him immediately recall the year 1937, when many absolutely innocent people ended up in the camps only because their apartment neighbors or work colleagues “started scribbling at them that the NKVD representatives seemed very convincing "
At the same time, Ryzhkov emphasized that since law enforcement agencies cannot live without agents, they must be involved, "but carefully, without going to the public with such a program, without publicizing their actions in order to avoid abuse."
The politician does not consider it right to urge Russia to be aligned with Western countries, where the practice of voluntary informing authorities is very widespread. “We should not go to their level of encouraging squealing. They have their own morality, their own standards, we have our own,” concluded Nikolai Ryzhkov.
"Welcomes" the idea of the Ministry of Internal Affairs to pay Russians up to 300 thousand rubles for information that will help solve crimes, the deputy chairman of the Federation Council Committee on Foreign Affairs, the representative in the Federation Council from the legislative body of the state power of the Chechen Republic Ziyad Sabsabi.
"This is the first step aimed at instilling in the Russians a spirit of cooperation with law enforcement agencies," the senator said. "Investigators are not able to independently cope with all the problems. They need voluntary assistants," the parliamentarian explained his point of view. However, he expressed surprise at the size of the amount of remuneration. 300 thousand rubles for valuable information seems to him "modest enough." “They would have made at least 500 thousand rubles,” complained Sabsabi.
At the same time, the politician sees that this measure "is accompanied by loopholes for fraud." The senator does not rule out a situation in which policemen "by hook or by crook will seek to use budget money so that after a year they do not return to the treasury." It seems to the parliamentarians that the picture is quite real when the investigator, owning the data regarding any crime, "simply merges them to his relative or acquaintance in order to share the received monetary reward with him."
Ziyad Sabsabi expressed hope that information from anonymous authors will not be considered.
In Russia, “an unsuitable situation” is for paying informants, said Rudik Iskuzhin, member of the Federation Council Committee on Legal and Judicial Affairs, representative to the Federation Council from the legislative body of the state power of the republic of Bashkortostan.
“Under certain conditions, this measure can be very effective,” the senator said.
According to the parliamentarian, at one time, by the nature of his activity, he was related to special services. “I’m familiar with this topic, and I can confidently say that launching this mechanism in the absence of conditions means even more compromising a generally good, useful idea,” said Iskuzhin, adding that in such a situation the cries "," snitching "will sound very loud.
The politician draws attention to the fact that the mentality of Russians is completely different. "We have a feeling of companionship, mutual support, but here we are suddenly invited to" knock, "said the senator.
The parliamentarian also emphasizes that this institution can work where "it is impossible to distort the use of this measure." “Since this is connected with money, there are some possible penalties on the part of the authorities. As for ordinary citizens, there are likely to be people who want to get rich, who begin to knock on innocent people,” summarized Rudik Iskuzhin.
Timely reporting of the impending crime is, above all, the protection of the civil interests of respectable people, said Tatyana Yakovleva, first deputy head of the United Russia faction, member of the State Duma Committee for Health Protection.
“If we want to live in a safe society, not be afraid of criminality, be calm for our own children and personal integrity, then we need to establish closer ties with law enforcement agencies,” she said. According to her, timely reporting of the impending crime is, first of all, the protection of the civil interests of respectable people. "We should not be a" herd of silent lambs "waiting to be rescued from the police. We must also participate in ensuring order and in crime prevention," the parliamentarian said.
The deputy also noted that the fight against corruption is impossible without the help of voluntary informants. “It is not necessary to cultivate the prison order of“ non-information ”in a free society - this is beneficial only to criminals. The well-being of the whole society depends on our active citizenship,” she emphasized.
At the same time, the parliamentarian called the introduction of an awareness fee “debatable”. “And yet, such an order is not Russian innovation,” Tatyana Yakovleva believes. “Thousands of unobvious and convoluted crimes are solved around the world on the basis of paid information. And in the USA, the informant receives from 15 to 30% of the cost of material damage revealed through his denunciation a state inflicted by a corrupt official and protected from persecution by violators exposed by him. "
Resented the intention of the Ministry of Internal Affairs to pay Russians information that would help solve crimes, Boris Reznik, deputy chairman of the State Duma Committee on Information Policy, Information Technologies and Communications, member of the United Russia faction.
"It seems that law enforcement officials are trying to replace their lack of professionalism and inability to work," the deputy said. “They must expose the criminals on their own, for this they have enough means and authority,” Reznik pointed out.
As the parliamentarian emphasizes, "to provoke people to be a snitch is immoral and vile." At the same time, he expressed confidence that "the whole healthy part of Russian society will express a categorical protest against such plans." “There is something very vicious in them, and no normal person will ever support such initiatives,” Boris Reznik said.
Yuri Medvedev, deputy chairman of the State Duma Committee on Property, member of the United Russia faction, sharply negatively refers to the plans of the Ministry of Internal Affairs to introduce the practice of paying for information on crimes provided by citizens.
"This absolutely can not be done," - said the deputy. According to him, "it is impossible to allow paid informers under any circumstances." As Medvedev emphasizes, "we already have a complicated life, and in an atmosphere of general suspicion and fear of denunciations, people will be completely uncomfortable." "So we get to the point that people will increasingly strive to leave Russia, and in one country only policemen and government officials will remain in the country," the parliamentarian said.
At the same time, the deputy “sees nothing bad” if citizens “without any material incentives” will more often pay attention to the facts of these or those offenses. "Once, while in Germany, a friend of mine parked in the wrong place, and a woman passing by warned him that she could report this to the police," said the deputy. "In my opinion, this is a completely normal civic position, due to the high level of legal awareness of a person," said Yuri Medvedev.
Pretty skeptical about the intention of the Ministry of Internal Affairs to pay the Russians for information that helps in solving crimes, a member of the State Duma Committee on Local Self-Government, a member of the Communist Party faction Anatoly Lokot.
"Making such proposals, our law enforcement officers sign their lack of professionalism," said the deputy.
The parliamentarian admitted that in law enforcement "there have always been various forms of work with secret agents." “But this work was closed, and the agents themselves acted on a par with the professionals,” he said. According to the deputy, "the transfer of such activities to the public sphere can lead to unpredictable consequences." “This cannot but contribute to the development of denunciation and all kinds of abuses,” the politician believes.
In addition, as Anatoly Lokot emphasizes, "the investigative practice itself will suffer, since there will be a danger of disclosure of certain methods of operational-search activity."
The idea of paying ordinary citizens information that would help solve crimes is doubtful, Valery Zubov, member of the State Duma Committee on Economic Policy and Entrepreneurship, member of the Just Russia faction.
"In our law enforcement practice, this idea will be necessarily spoiled," the deputy said. "And the point here is not even the danger of spreading slander and denunciation in the society, but the corruption of the Russian law enforcement system," he said.
According to the parliamentarian, law enforcement officers “will simply put in their pocket” the amounts allocated to pay for the information of agents “from the people”. "It will not cost them anything to" merge "this or that operational information by some of their acquaintances, and then share a reward with them for the information provided," the deputy pointed out. Thus, according to Valery Zubov, the initiative of the Ministry of Internal Affairs involves "another source for the enrichment of dishonest police officers."
, and there, even if ALL THE CORROSION WHOLESALE let them go "downhill" ... With the minds and deeds of most of these individuals are entirely ruled solely by personal gain and fear for their own skin, nothing more! 
