Introduction. The article examines the results of the study of the problem of professional training of police officers (militia) in the historical and pedagogical aspect.Materials and Methods. The study is based on an analysis of various sources: regulatory legal acts of different years, dissertation research, scientific articles, memoirs of leaders and officers of the police (militia), historical periodicals, monographs. The leading methods were: periodization method, comparative-historical method, logical-historical analysis of sources.Results. The analysis of historical sources made it possible to identify the reasons and conditions that had a qualitative impact on the formation and development of the system of departmental education of the police (militia): political, economic, social, cultural, operational and service. The interdependence of the conditions noted made it possible to determine four historical stages in the formation and development of professional education of the police (militia): the first stage (I quarter of the 18th - I half of the 19th centuries), the second stage (II half of the 19th – the beginning of the 20th centuries), the third stage (the beginning of the 20th – the beginning of the XXI centuries), the fourth stage (2011 – present). Each historical stage is determined by the socio-economic and political conditions for the development of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia as a state law enforcement agency, characterized by certain professional requirements for the personality of a policeman (policeman), and the directions of development of departmental education of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia.Discussion and Conclusions. Based on the historical analysis, it is concluded that the modern development of departmental education of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia has retained the essence of the historical concept of law enforcement training and education.Scientific novelty. The paper presents the results of the historical and pedagogical analysis of the development of the system of departmental law enforcement education, identifies the stages of development of this system, taking into account the requirements put forward for the professional and personal qualities of a police officer in different historical eras; features of vocational training, including in the system of additional vocational education; educational and target tasks implemented in the process of teaching and upbringing. The proposed description of the stages allows us to correlate the historical aspects of the formation of professional training of police officers with the modern goals and objectives of vocational education; the requirements put forward for the professional and personal qualities of the employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia, as well as determine the further prospects for the development of this system.Practical significance. The results of the study can be used in the professional training of future bachelors, specialists of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia, in teaching educational disciplines of a pedagogical and legal profile, in the development of methodological materials for advanced training and retraining courses for police personnel, in carrying out activities in extracurricular activities (scientific circles).