Disadvantages of the Siberian militia activity (1925-1932 years)

On the basis of archival documents the author analyze the problems faced by local authorities in the formation of law enforcement. The article considers the process of creation and implementation of the Siberia militia. It also discusses issue related to the protection of public order by officers of the Soviet militia in the end of the 20s years and the beginning of the 30s years of the last century. Changes in the country affected the Siberian region. In that period militia had a great number of duties. During the period of establishing of the Soviet power in Western Siberia the number of crimes, committed by militiamen has dramatically increased. The article tells about reasons of that process. First of all there was a bad financial situation in the Siberia region which made a great influence on the militiamen. One of the main problems was a shortage of qualified personnel. The number of qualified militia workers was insufficient. Many of the militiamen did not even have a primary education. The level of legal competence of militiamen was not high. There was an interrelation between the legal nihilism of militiamen and general increase in criminality. There was also a question of the weak discipline. A great number of militiamen did not understand the moral foundation of their profession. There was also a question of professional ethic. A lot of militiamen were involved in corruption schemes. Being a form of stealing, corruption in that time was a specific form of misconduct acts designed to obtain financial benefits and other personal gain in exchange for not pursuing, or selectively pursuing, an investigation or arrest. One common form of corruption in that period was soliciting and accepting bribes in exchange for not reporting about prostitution, moonshining and other illegal activities. More rarely, militiamen took part in organized crime activity themselves. Such situation negatively affected the society, including political, economic, and sociological aspects. The author pays some attention to the physical condition of Soviet militia officers which was in a low level. A special attention was paid to the problem of alcohol because a lagre number of militiamen abused alcohol. Besides there was an active process of development of the normative-legal base of the young Soviet state, in order to improve such negative tendencies. Despite the difficulties, the staff of the Western Siberia militia carried out all their duties in order to change such situation.

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