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| Militsiya милиция | |
|---|---|
.svg){kind=icon} | |
| Agency overview | |
| Formed | 1917 |
| Dissolved | 1991 |
| Superseding agency | Militsiya (Russia) Militsiya (Ukraine) Militsiya (Belarus) |
| Jurisdictional structure | |
| National agency | RSFSR (1917–1922) Soviet Union (1922–1991) |
| Operations jurisdiction | RSFSR (1917–1922) Soviet Union (1922–1991) |
| General nature | |
| Operational structure | |
| Headquarters | Moscow |
| Agency executives |
|
| Parent agency | People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (1917–1946) Ministry of Internal Affairs (1946–1991) |
| Child agencies |
|
Militsiya (Russian:милиция,IPA:[mʲɪˈlʲitsɨjə],Serbo-Croatian:милиција,romanized: milicija,lit. 'militia') were thepolice forces in theSoviet Union until 1991, in severalEastern Bloc countries (1945–1992), and in thenon-alignedSFR Yugoslavia (1945–1992). The termMilitsiya continues to be used in common and sometimes official usage in some of the individualformer Soviet republics such asBelarus,Tajikistan,Uzbekistan andKyrgyzstan, as well as in the partially recognised or unrecognised republics ofAbkhazia,South Ossetia andTransnistria. InRussian law enforcement, the term remained in official usage until thepolice reform of 2011.
The namemilitsiya as applied to police forces originates from aRussian Provisional Government decree dated April 17, 1917, and fromearly Soviet history: both the Provisional Government and theBolsheviks intended to associate their new law-enforcement authority with the self-organisation of the people and to distinguish it from theczarist police. The militsiya was reaffirmed in Russia on October 28 (November 10, according to thenew style dating), 1917 under the official name of the "Workers' and Peasants' Militsiya", in further contrast to what the Bolsheviks called the "bourgeois class protecting" police. Eventually, it was replaced by theMinistry of Internal Affairs (Russian: МВД,MVD; Ukrainian: МВС,MVS; Belarusian: МУС,MUS), which is now the official full name for the militsiya forces in the respective countries. Its regional branches are officially called Departments of Internal Affairs—city department of internal affairs,raion department of internal affairs,oblast department of internal affairs, etc. (The Russian term for araion department is OVD (ОВД; Отдел/Отделение внутренних дел,Otdel/Otdeleniye vnutrennikh del), for region department is UVD (УВД; Управление внутренних дел,Upravleniye vnutrennikh del) or, sometimes, GUVD (ГУВД; Главное управление внутренних дел,Glavnoye upravleniye vnutrennikh del), same for national republics is MVD (МВД; Министерство внутренних дел,Ministerstvo vnutrennikh del).)
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Functionally, Ministries of Internal Affairs are mostly police agencies. Their functions and organisation differ significantly from similarly named departments in Western countries, which are usually civil executive bodies headed by politicians and responsible for many other tasks as well as the supervision of law enforcement. The Soviet and successor MVDs have usually been headed by a militsiyageneral and predominantly consist of service personnel, with civilian employees only filling auxiliary posts. Although such ministers are members of their respective countries' cabinets, they usually do not report to the prime minister or parliament, but only to the president. Local militsiya departments are subordinated to their regional departments, having little accountability to local authorities.
Internal-affairs units within the militsiya itself are usually called "internal security" departments.[citation needed]
The official names of particular militsiya bodies and services in post-Soviet countries are usually very complicated, hence the use of the short termmilitsiya. Laws usually refer to police just asmilitsiya.
The short term for a police officer (regardless of gender) ismilitsioner (Russian:милиционер, Ukrainian:мiлiцiонер). Slang Russian terms formilitsioner includement (plural: менты,menty) andmusor (plural:мусора,musora). Although the latter word is offensive (it literally means "trash" or "garbage"), it originated from an acronym for the Moscow Criminal Investigations Department (Russian:МУС,romanized: MUS, short forRussian:Московский уголовный сыск,romanized: Moskovskiy ugolovnyy sysk) inImperial Russia.Ment is a close equivalent to the English slang term "cop" and derived from theLwów dialect of Polish[1]or possibly from the Polish wordmenda.[2]
The following countries have changed the name of the police force fromMilitsiya (or equivalent) to a western-style name analogous to "police":Bulgaria,Poland,Romania,Estonia,Lithuania,Moldova,Latvia,Mongolia,North Macedonia,Azerbaijan,Georgia,Serbia,Montenegro,Bosnia and Herzegovina,Croatia,Slovenia,Kazakhstan,Armenia,Turkmenistan,Russia andUkraine.
In 2019,Uzbekistan officially removed references to the word "Militsiya" from its laws without replacing them with "police".[3]
The police are still calledmilitsiya inBelarus,Tajikistan,Kyrgyzstan, as well as in the unrecognized republics ofAbkhazia,South Ossetia andTransnistria. In Kyrgyzstan active discussion continues about renaming the police force frommilitsiya topolice.[citation needed]
The organizational structure, methods and traditions of the militsiya differ significantly from those of western police. Militsiya as an organisation consists of many functional departments, such as theGIBDD, a traffic police.Organised crime detectives form highly independent squads inside regional militsiya. Some units may have the distinctive names (likeOMON in Russia) which are more specific thanmilitsiya ormilitsioner.
Militsiya personnel ranks mostly follow those of the Army – fromprivate (Russian:ryadovoy), which is the lowest rank, tocolonel general – with only these exceptions: there are no ranks ofYefreytor,Army General, orMarshal. Detectives (Russian:operativnik (оперативник), "operative", short for "operative employee" –operativniy rabotnik (оперативный работник)) hold a rank of at least lieutenant, and could be promoted tomajor orcolonel. The militsiya of anoblast (or other equivalentsubnational entity) is usually headed by a general. The rank name is suffixed with "of militsiya" (e.g. "major of militsiya" for a major). Militsiya personnel carryfirearms, but are not permitted to carry their weapons when they are off duty.[4]
Unlike in some other countries' police agencies, militsioners are not assigned permanent partners, but work alone or within larger groups. Neither uniformed officers nor detectives are allowed to drive police vehicles themselves,[citation needed] so a specialist driver (either a serviceman or a civil employee) is assigned to each car and is also in charge of its maintenance. Under the Patrol Police Service Regulations a designated police officer-driver is required to have a driver licence and is not allowed to abandon the vehicle.[5] However, this refers only to fully marked police vehicles with emergency lights; detectives are allowed to drive civilian cars with are registered to the MVD, having white number plates (marked police vehicles have blue plates) with specific series (for example,o...vo,o...rr,o...mm,o...om). The last two are usually assigned to the vehicles registered to regional level MVD units. The law does not provide any preferences on the road nor allows emergency lights and/or sirens on such vehicles,[6] therefore technically police officers do not have the right to violate traffic laws even while on an assignment.GIBDD (the traffic militsiya) is the only exception: its members drive their own (or even own private) cars and are specially trained in risk-driving.
One unique feature of militsiya policing approach is the system of territorial patronage over citizens. The cities, as well as the rural settlements are divided intouchastoks (Russian:pl. участки, "quarters") with a specialuchastkovyi militsioner ("quarter policeman"), assigned to each. The main duty ofuchastkovyi is to maintain close relations with the residents of his quarter and gather information among them. In particular,uchastkovyi should personally know each and every ex-convict, substance abuser, young hooligan etc. in givenuchastok, and visit them regularly for preemptive influence.Uchastkovyi is also responsible for tackling minor offences like family violence, loud noise, residential area parking etc.Uchastkovyi is also the main, and actually the real, militsiya force in remote areas and small settlements where permanent police departments are not created.Uchastkovyi militsioners possess separate small offices within their quarters and maintain citizens admittance in definite weekdays.
This system slightly resembles the US system ofsheriffs but shows some notable differences.Uchastkovyi is neither a chief police officer in a given community nor a universal one (not combining detective, incarceration or special tactics tasks).
The system ofuchastkovyis dates back toimperial times whenuriadniks were conducting lowest-level policing in rural areas. In Soviet Union,uchastkovyis were also responsible for such tasks as maintainingpropiska limitations and overseeing former political prisoners, which were subject to daily registration at the local MVD office.
Although women constitute a significant proportion of militsiya staff, they are usually not permitted to fill positions that carry risks (such as patrolman, guard,SWAT), but are allowed to carry firearms for self-defence. Instead, they are widely represented among investigators, juvenile crime inspectors, clerks, etc. However, limited attempts are being made to appoint women as traffic officers oroperativniks.
Another unique militsiya feature is the use ofconscripted soldiers from theInternal Troops and special motorized militsiya units (СМЧМ, SMChM) for regular urban policing and for securing various mass events, which required more force employment than usual. The Internal Troops and SMChMs are thegendarmerie-like military force who can be assigned to carry out simple public security tasks like patrolling while being accompanied by professional militsioners, or cordoning large crowds at sport events, concerts, and protests. These soldiers possess nofirearms on their policing duties, however they are equipped with PR-73 rubberpolice batons, PR-90tonfas and related equipment; when called to performriot control duties, they are typically equipped withballistic shields andtear gas. The SMChM soldiers typically wear grey militsiya uniforms, distinguished from commissioned officers by wearing standard-issuedsapogi instead of individual boots or shoes, the Internal Troops wear greenmilitary uniform. During emergencies,raids,dragnets and other police operations, they are equipped with bullet-proof vests and protective gear, firearms andarmoured vehicles while performing their policing duties.
While not on law enforcement duty, soldiers reside in barracks and maintain standard military training. Special motorised militsiya units stationed in the cities were allbattalions with three exceptions.Kyiv andLeningrad hadregiments andMoscow had adivision, known asODON, which is frequently used for policing Moscow; its soldiers can be spotted by a shoulder patch which features a whitepanther; other Internal troops units in the Moscow region use a shoulder patch with a white falcon.
Until late 1936, the People's Militsiya andInternal Troops of theNKVD had no personal ranks, much akin to theRed Army,Red Navy, andOGPU, and used position ranks. When personal ranks were reintroduced in the military in 1935, the Militsiya created a curious rank system that was a blend of standard military ranks such as sergeant, lieutenant, captain and major, and old positional ranks like 'squad leader', 'inspector', and 'director', some with several grades like 'senior' or 'junior'. The collar rank insignia was completely original and not based on military insignia.
This system was largely reused by theGUGB in their special rank structure introduced in 1935, although with new rank insignia andCommissar-style ranks for top officers.
New insignia were issued to GUGB in 1937 and to Militsiya in 1939. It was now based on collar rank patches of the Red Army and Internal Troops. Confusingly, the special NKVD rank system was left intact, so for example 'Captain of Militsiya/State Security was assigned the three-box insignia of an army Colonel (in the Red Army, this patch was reassigned to lieutenant colonel in September 1939, but the NKVD did not alter their insignia) andMajor of Militsiya/State Security was mapped to one-romb insignia ofKombrig (a brigade commander) (which was abolished for commanding officers of the Red Army in May 1940). This created a great deal of inconsistency and tension between army and NKVD/NKGB officers.
The NKVD rank system was streamlined in 1943 when imperial-style shoulder boards replaced the collar insignia patches. The ranks now copied those of the Soviet Army, with the exception of top officers starting with 'Senior Major' who were renamedCommissar of Militsiya 3rd, 2nd, and 1st rank, although they still wore army-style Major General, Lieutenant General and Colonel General shoulder boards.
The GUGB/NKGB maintained their commissar ranks until 1945, and switched to equivalent General ranks after that. The Militsiya retained the commissar ranks until 1973.
Some MVD officers had distinct ranks of General of the Internal Service of 1st, 2nd and 3rd rank; they were replaced with Major General, Lieutenant General and Colonel General in the 1970s.
Ranks of militsiya are considered special ranks, not to be confused with military (all-forces) ranks, which are used by the internal troops of theMVD. All militsiya ranks have had the words "of militsiya" at the end, which are part of the rank name and not a descriptive addition.
| Chief Director of Militsiya | Director of Militsiya | Inspector of Militsiya | Senior Major | Major | Captain | Senior Lieutenant | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Source:[7] |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| Lieutenant | Junior Lieutenant | Sergeant | Cadet | Starshina | Subunit Leader | Senior Militiaman | Militiaman | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Source:[7] |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| Chief Director | Director | Inspector | Senior Major | Major | Captain | Senior Lieutenant | Lieutenant | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Source:[8] | ||||||||
| Junior Lieutenant | Sergeant | Starshina | Subunit Leader | Senior Militiaman | Militiaman | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Source:[8] | ||||||||||||
| Supreme Supervising Staff | Senior Supervising Staff | Medium Supervising Staff | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shoulder insignia for every day uniform |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  | |
| Rank | Colonel General of militsiya | Lieutenant General of militsiya | Major General of militsiya | Colonel of militsiya | Lieutenant colonel of militsiya | Major of militsiya | Captain of militsiya | Senior lieutenant of militsiya | Lieutenant of militsiya | Junior lieutenant of militsiya | |
| Junior Supervising Staff | Private Staff | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shoulder insignia for every day uniform |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| Rank | Senior praporshchik of militsiya | Praporshchik of militsiya | Starshina of militsiya | Senior sergeant of militsiya | Sergeant of militsiya | Junior sergeant of militsiya | Private of militsiya |
| General Officers | Senior Commissioned Officers | Junior Commissioned Officers | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shoulder insignia for every day uniform |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  | |
| Rank | Colonel General of militsiya | Lieutenant General of militsiya | Major General of militsiya | Colonel of militsiya | Lieutenant colonel of militsiya | Major of militsiya | Captain of militsiya | Senior lieutenant of militsiya | Lieutenant of militsiya | Junior lieutenant of militsiya | |
| Private Officers | Cadet Officers | Non-commissioned Officers | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shoulder insignia for every day uniform |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| Rank | Senior praporshchik of militsiya | Praporshchik of militsiya | Starshina of militsiya | Senior sergeant of militsiya | Sergeant of militsiya | Junior sergeant of militsiya | Private of militsiya | Cadet of militsiya |
| Category | General Personnel | Senior Officers | Junior Officers | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shoulder Ranks | .png){kind=icon} | .png){kind=icon} | .png){kind=icon} | .png){kind=icon} | .png){kind=icon} | .png){kind=icon} | .png){kind=icon} | .png){kind=icon} | .png){kind=icon} | .png){kind=icon} |
| Ranks | Colonel General | Lieutenant General | Major General | Colonel | Lieutenant Colonel | Major | Captain | Senior Lieutenant | Lieutenant | Junior Lieutenant |
| Category | Ensigns | Sergeants | Private | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Police Shoulder | .png){kind=icon} | .png){kind=icon} | .png){kind=icon} | .png){kind=icon} | .png){kind=icon} | .png){kind=icon} | .png){kind=icon} | .png){kind=icon} |
| Rank | Senior Ensign | Ensign | Starshina | Senior Sergeant | Sergeant | Junior Sergeant | Gefreiter | Private |
The Soviet and some post-SovietMinistries of Internal Affairs have also included:
These non-police services should be distinguished from themilitsiya itself, except passport and registration service, which structures are often included intoOVD and sometimes considered one of the importantmilitsiya services. Their members have always used different generic names and specific ranks (e.g.Major of the Internal Service, rather thanMajor of Militsiya).
The most common types were:
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The RussianMVD was recreated as the MVD of theRussian SFSR in 1990, following the restoration of the republicanCouncil of Ministers andSupreme Soviet, and remained when Russia gained independence from the Soviet Union. It controlled the Militsiya, theState Road Inspection Service (GAI), and theInternal Troops. Since the disbanding of theTax Police, it also investigates economic crimes.
In August 2010, PresidentDmitry Medvedev introduced new legislation to reform and centralize the funding of the militsiya, as well as to officially change the militsiya's name to "Police" (the term which was used in theRussian Empire).[9] The change was performed on March 1, 2011.
Militsiya was the nationalpolice service ofUkraine from the 1950s until 2015. The militsiya was formed whilst Ukraine was governed by theUkrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, part of the Soviet Union, and continued to serve as a national police service in independent Ukraine until it was replaced by theNational Police of Ukraine on 7 November 2015.[10][nb 1]
In Serbia, the Communal Police force (or Municipal Police;Serbian:Комунална полиција,romanized: Komunalna policija) was established in 2009.[12]
In 2016 its name was changed to "Communal Militsya" (Комунална милиција,Komunalna milicija) under which it continues to operate to the current day.[13]
The termmilitsiya remains in use in several[quantify] parts of the former Soviet Union:
Cognate terms also came into use in severalSoviet bloc countries during theCold War. Examples includedBulgaria (Peoples' Militia),Poland (Milicja Obywatelska) and otherWarsaw Pact nations, as well as thenon-alignedSFR Yugoslavia (Milicija), which was phased out throughout the 1990s and replaced bypolicija (police) in early 1997. Bulgaria changed the name of its law-enforcement body toPolicija (Bulgarian:полиция) in 1991.Romania operated aMiliția, but after thecommunist regime therefell (1989), thePoliția replaced it in 1990.
[...] the Minister of the Interior, referring to the constructive policy of the Head of State, noted that, at the initiative of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the General Army, the respected Emomali Rahmon, police officers are provided with all necessary conditions and modern technology.
This article incorporatespublic domain material fromThe World Factbook.CIA.
