During the time of the Russian Empire, the Ministry of the Interior had a Police Department that managed the police in the state for 30 years, until the coup and the creation of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.
Formation of a government body
It was formed on August 6, 1880 as a successor of all the rights and dogmas of the Third Branch of His Imperial Majesty’s Chancellery, which was also part of and fell under the provisions of the department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Empire.
The very first name of this body was “Department of State Police”, it included departments such as security, police, detective, all fire departments and address desks controlled throughout the country.
End of Department
On March 23, 1917, the Department was dissolved in connection with the revolution and the change of government, and instead, the government ordered the creation of the so-called Office for Citizen Security and Public Police, so that at least temporary police exist for the duration of the coups. The slogan “For Faith, Tsar and Fatherland” was forgotten after that.
Rebirth of the Department in a new state body
A little later, almost six months later, this department became known as the main one, which gave it state rights and full legitimacy, in contrast to the previous government department. The tasks of this Police Department included the organization of local police activities, full control of what she was doing, as well as the protection of borders, prisoners of war, foreign ambassadors and guests of the highest echelons of power who arrived in the USSR.
Department List
At the end of 1917, the Department consisted of nine departments, called clerical work, as well as secret departments and chancery. The structure of the Department was as follows:
- Division 1 is the very first variation of the Department that existed under the Empire. She was engaged in all police affairs, as well as extracts for the appointment of awards, allowances, pensions. Regulated all cases involving counterfeit money, sorted papers on the return of refugees to their homeland.
- The 2nd department was engaged in state affairs during the time of the Russian Empire. Drafting laws on public events, for example, how to behave, which speeches to skip, and which to prohibit. He created such slogans as “For Faith, Tsar and Fatherland”, “God bless us,” etc. He was involved in the creation of laws on the reception and import of vehicles into the territory of the empire.
- Section 3 was engaged in the search for political criminals, as well as in the struggle against mass party movements, strikes and rallies. Managed the guard of the emperor himself and was completely secret. It became known about him only after all the affairs of this department were transferred to the so-called Special Department, which kept all the data on political parties and movements in tsarist Russia.
- 4th section - the police department monitored all mass work, and also completely controlled all peasant movements.
- The 5th department executed special decisions of the Ministry of the Interior, for which he was nicknamed the executive.
- The 6th department supervised the manufacture and storage of explosives (cartridges, explosives, as well as chemicals). The duties of the 6th department included monitoring and control of the entire gold and oil industries, which began to develop in the Russian Empire.
- The 7th department, the “supervisory”, compiled and contained all archival records of inquiries, cases of revolutionary leaders of certain groups of people (parties, congresses). The duties of the seventh division also included the maintenance and archiving of prison correspondence (about all emergency situations in prisons, about escapes, considering appeals and extending the term).
- The 8th department was a center for managing all detective agencies and criminal investigation agencies in the Russian Empire.
- The 9th Division was engaged in all matters related to intelligence and counterintelligence, liaison with allied powers and discussion of plans for enemy states.
- The encryption department of the Police Department guaranteed complete secrecy and storage of the royal family’s correspondence, decrypted enemy messages, and developed new ways to decrypt and encrypt letters.