Czarist police

Ministry of Police of Imperial Russia was created in the course of Government reform of Alexander I in 1810 and existed till 1819.

In view of importance of the functions assigned to the Ministry, for it has been developed and simultaneously with ukaz about establishment of the ministries was published Establishment and the order to minister of police, which became a normative basis of its organization and activity. A component of it were Rules of the especial responsibility of minister of police. Operating in force-majeure (definition and conditions force-majeure were not given), minister of police could demand in the order of an army, bypassing military minister and giving direct orders to commanders of regiments. The special paragraph of the General establishment of the ministries provided exemption from liability of minister for excess of authority if it operated in kinds of the general safety.

Except for protection of internal security the Ministry of police was allocated with the right to supervise for final execution of laws on all in general to the ministries. Minister of police had the right to demand data from all local bodies, bypassing the corresponding ministries. Decrees, the circulars concerning activity of the local bodies of the various ministries, went to provinces for the official of the Ministry of police who by means of police watched their observance. That the police stood apart from the administrative system, was above it, supervising its activity. Such order has been fixed in Establishment of the Ministry of Finance where was specified that the use of the sums, allocated for local provincial bodies should be made under supervision of the Ministry of police.

First minister of police was the general-aide-de-camp of emperor Alexander I Alexander Balashov, who has been appointed into the front-line army from the beginning of Patriotic War of 1812, carrying out especially important missions of Emperor, including negotiations with Napoleon. Acting and actually minister of police, till 1819 was Sergey Vyazmitinov, in the past - the first Minister of Land Forces. Heading the Ministry of police, he was simultaneously the War Governor of Saint Petersburg. By testimonies of contemporaries, how many useless victims of suspicion would fall in Petersburg (in 1812), if not experience and philanthropy of S.K.Vjazmitinov.

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