Police to people ratio in Belarus six times more than Soviet level

Belarus is the world's leader in the number of police officers per population.

Belarus has 1,442 law-enforcement officers per 100,000 people. The world average level is 300 police officers per 100,000 people, while the UN recommends 222 policemen per 100,000 people. The level of police personnel per 100,000 population was 214.

The data were taken from the explanatory notes to two draft laws registered in Ukraine's Verkhovna Rada. The draft laws propose to decrease the number of police officers and prosecution personnel. The authors think the total number of law-enforcement officers of 375,700 (780 policemen per 100,000 people) is too high, Kommersant-Ukraine writes.

The explanatory note to the draft law on reducing police personnel says Italy has 552, Bulgaria 44, the Czech Republic 405, France 369, Poland 264 and the US 233 police officers per 100,000 people. Russia follows Belarus with 976 policemen per 100,000 population. Sweden has the lowest level of 195-200 police officers per 100,000 people.

Photo: BelTA