Police Department of Russia

Police Department of the Russian Empire
Департамент полиции Российской империи (Departament politsii Rossiyskoy imperii)
Agency overview
FormedNovember 14, 1819 (Department of the Executive Police)
August 6, 1880 (Police Department)
DissolvedFebruary 27, 1917
Jurisdiction Russian Empire
HeadquartersPetrograd
Parent agencyMinistry of the Interior of the Russian Empire
Child agency

The Police Department of the Russian Empire (Russian: Департамент полиции Российской империи) was the government agency responsible for the overall management and coordination of police forces in the Russian Empire, including the Okhrana branches and the Special Corps of Gendarmes,[1][2][3] between 1880 and the fall of the Empire in the Russian Revolution in 1917.

History

On November 14, 1819, the Department of the Executive Police (Russian: Департамент полиции исполнительной) was created within the Ministry of Internal Affairs, following the dissolution of the Ministry of Police.[4] The task of the new department was the overall management and coordination of the various police forces in the Empire.

In 1826, the handling of political, religious and espionage cases was brought under the Third Section of His Imperial Majesty's Own Chancellery, with the Department of Executive Police remaining in control of regular police and crime-fighting.

The Police Department in its final incarnation was established on August 6, 1880 following the dissolution of both the Third Section and the Department of the Executive Police. The newly formed department was again placed under the Ministry of Internal Affairs. From 1880 til 1883 it was called Department of the State Police ("Департамент государственной полиции" (Departament gosudarstvennoy politsii)). Under its jurisdiction and oversight were the Okhrana, all the police forces, including the detective branches, and the Fire departments.

After the February Revolution the Department was dissolved by the decree of the Russian provisional government on February 27, 1917, and following the October Revolution the Bolshevik government announced the establishment of the Militsiya, as the new police force.

Director

The head of the department was The Director of the Police Department, who was appointed by the Minister of the Internal Affairs.

Directors of Police Department
Minister Start year End year
Ivan Velio 1880 1881
Vyacheslav von Plehve 1881 1884
Pyotr Durnovo 1884 1893
Nikolai Petrov 1893 1895
Nikolai Saburov 1895 1896
Anton Dobrzhinsky 1896 1897
Sergei Zvolyansky 1897 1902
Aleksei Lopukhin 1902 1905
Sergei Kovalensky March 1905 June 1905
Nikolai Garin July 1905 November 1905
Emmanuel Vuich 1905 1906
Maximilian Trusevich 1906 1909
Nil Zuev 1909 1912
Stepan Beletsky 1912 1914
Valentine Brun de Saint Hippolyte 1914 1915
Ruschu Mollov September 1915 November 1915
Konstantin Kafafov 1915 1916
Evgeny Klimovich February 1916 September 1916
Aleksey Vasilyev 1916 1917

See also

Further reading

  • Ronald Hingley, The Russian Secret Police: Muscovite, Imperial, and Soviet Political Security Operations (Simon & Schuster, New York, 1970). ISBN 0-671-20886-1
  • R. J. Stove, The Unsleeping Eye: Secret Police and Their Victims (Encounter Books, San Francisco, 2003). ISBN 1-893554-66-X
  • Dominic Lieven (ed.), The Cambridge History of Russia, Volume II: Imperial Russia, 1689–1917, Cambridge University Press (2006), ISBN 978-0-521-81529-1.

References