Police
The police force in Russia, known as the Militia, was set up a month after the state coup of October 1917 and it continues as the Militia to this day. The entire Militia in Russia is under the direction of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, as are the internal army and specialized forces (railroad, air and river militia). The penitentiary service was transferred in 1998 to the Ministry of Justice, the fire safety service is transferred now to the Ministry of Extraordinary Situations.
The Militia in the republics are directed by the republican Ministry of Internal Affairs, and in each territory, region, city or district, they are directed by the main board of internal affairs, as established by the Constitution and law of each region.
The current directives, functions, and structure of the Militia are laid down in the Russian legislation, «On the Militia», passed on April 18, 1991 (with some modifications).
The Militia is organized into two main sub-divisions: the Criminal Militia and the Militia for Civil Safety (or Public Order) at the local level (Law «On the Militia for Civil Safety», 1993). The Criminal Militia include the detective service, the economic crime prevention service, scientific/technical specialists, operational investigators, and others who supply material for criminal investigation. The Civil Militia include the duty service, the service for securing civil order, the state automobile inspectorate, the security service, divisional inspectors, temporary detention guards, the prevention service, and others. The Criminal Investigation Service is a separate unit under the Ministry of Internal Affairs (Gilinskiy, 2000: 173-194).
There are different data about the numbers of Russian Militia: the Militia forces stood at about 540,000, and that of the internal army at about 278,000 in 1995 (Everyone's Newspaper, 1995, N 51); the police rate per 100,000 population in Russian Federation was 1224.58 in 1994 (Newman, 1999: 124); staff of the Ministry of Internal Affairs RF were about 1.5 million in 1996 (Corruption and Combat Corruption, 2000: 29).
There are different training and education systems for the various police staff in Russia: private (soldier) or officer, investigator or inspector, etc. There are six main kinds of police training – common education (school, college, university) plus special training; elementary special training for privates; common higher (including juridical) education; special police education; the system of raising the level of one's skill; the Academy of Management of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) for the senior and the highest commanding staff.
There are two main kinds of regulations of the police training and education – Law on Education (1996), Law on Higher and Post-graduated Professional Education (1996) and different police orders (statutes, instructions, etc.). All educational programs must correspond to state (public) standards of the Ministry of Education. All training programs must correspond to orders of the MIA.
Staff of teachers is very heterogeneous. Experienced officers teach in the police school (educational centers) for privates. Experienced officers and some university teachers teach in police colleges and police higher courses. University professors, readers, and lectures teach in police universities and academies.
There is an exchange of experience between teachers of Russian police universities, policemen and foreign colleagues. The Russian police universities organize different joint international seminars and conferences. Some foreign educational institutions send books and equipment to Russian universities and colleges. Russian police officers have gon abroad for police training to Denmark, Finland, Germany, and the USA[505].
Training and education plans of Russian universities of the MIA include programs on international human rights standards. Some universities of the MIA have arrangements for training personal assigned to the UN peacekeeping mission (for example, the Rostov's University for the mission in Bosnia).
Police as well as police training and education system are part and parcel of the society, and they have common problems – economic, social, political, morale (including insufficient of finances, corruption, traditional Russian police «secrecy», the militarization of police, and police training, etc.).
