what's the meaning of утверждают in the sentence?
В полиции утверждают, что всего Чжао заработал 1080 юаней.

утверждать has the meanning of confirm and claim according to the dictionary so I'm confused on if the sentence should be translated as Police claims that Zhao earned 1080 Yuan in total or Police confirmed that Zhao earned 1080 Yuan in total

Thanks for your attention

Question

what's the meaning of утверждают in the sentence?
В полиции утверждают, что всего Чжао заработал 1080 юаней.

утверждать has the meanning of confirm and claim according to the dictionary so I'm confused on if the sentence should be translated as Police claims that Zhao earned 1080 Yuan in total or  Police confirmed that Zhao earned 1080 Yuan in total

Thanks for your attention

Answer

Police claims that Zhao earned 1080 Yuan.

Answer

If somebody "утверждает" something to me, it means he is trying to make me think about it like himself.

Answer

''Утверждать'' means to provide the official statement of what happened (to say you point of view). To ''state'' is the best english verb here for officials I think. Police stated that.....
to confirm means подтверждать, though it's also possible to use here, but the meaning is a bit different. Police confirmed that....
to claim and to assure is ok too I think, depends on the situation

Answer

In this context, it means "to claim", " to say".