THE ESTABLISHMENT OF PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION OF POLICE OFFICERS IN THE 1920S IN EASTERN SIBERIA

Abstract

Introduction. The paper addresses the issues of the development of professional education of police officers in post-revolutionary Eastern Siberia in the 1920s. The archival documents were used to study forms and methods of professional training of young officers of workers and peasants’ police. The main of them were school training of the reserve and practical training of the officers in off-duty and on-duty hours. The study also focused on the issues that interfered with the professional training of officers and, eventually, did not allow the single system for the policemen training to be established. The objective of the study is to examine the issue of creating a system of training police personnel in the 1920s, highlight the activities of the administrative department intended to organize the professional training of police officers for the East Siberian region at a difficult time for the country, and the problems that arose. Materials and methods. The study employed synthesis methods, comparative analysis of historical sources, historical-system method, and the principle of historicism. Results of the study. The activities of the police of Eastern Siberia, which were aimed at the professional training of law enforcement officers, were investigated. The post-war Eastern Siberia faced a lack of personnel for the police since tsarist police were defeated, and the class approach to the personnel selection led to the situation where the policemen from workers and peasants were often poorly literate or illiterate. Therefore, there was an urgent need to establish a professional training system for police officers. Attempts were made to create this system, but they were unsuccessful in the 1920s. This activity, however, made it possible to lay a foundation for the establishment of such a system in the future.