A member of a Russian special purpose police team (OMSN), equipped with a 9A91 submachine gun. The word "militsiya" can clearly be seen of the back of his flak jacket

Militsiya (Russian: мили́ция; Ukrainian: мiлiцiя; Romanian: Miliţia; literally "militia") was the generic name for the police in the Soviet Union and a few other Communist countries. It is now used as a short official name of the police in Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and some other post-Soviet states. Due to the history of the term and the distinctive local features, the militsiya should be considered a special regional kind of policing system, not just a translation of the English "police". Militsiya forces in all post-Soviet countries share similar traditions, tactics and methods, although the differences are increasing over time. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (480x640, 87 KB) File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (480x640, 87 KB) File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... A militia is a group of citizens organized to provide paramilitary service. ... Generic can be used in the following contexts: In computer science, generics (or genericity) are concepts used in programming. ... Communism - Wikipedia /**/ @import /w/skins-1. ...

Name and status

The name originates from early Soviet history, when the Bolsheviks intended to associate their new law enforcement authority with the self-organization of the people and to distinguish it from the "bourgeois class-oriented police". Originally militsiya was the official name: the Workers' and Peasants' Militsiya was created in 1917. Eventually, it was replaced by Ministry of Internal Affairs (Russian: МВД, MVD; Ukrainian: МВС, MVS), 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 a regional department was "ОВД", "Отдел/Отделение внутренних дел", later renamed to "УВД"—"Управление внутренних дел". Leaders of the Bolshevik Party and the Communist International, a painting by Malcolm McAllister on the Pathfinder Mural in New York City and on the cover of the book Lenin’s Final Fight published by Pathfinder. ... Bourgeois at the end of the thirteenth century. ... 1917 (MCMXVII) was a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar (see link for calendar) or a common year starting on Tuesday of the Julian calendar. ... The Ministerstvo Vnutrennikh Del (MVD) (Министерство внутренних дел) was the Ministry of Internal Affairs in the imperial Russia, late USSR, and still bears the same name in the Russian Federation. ... See rayon for the textile made of processed cellulose. ... An oblast (Slavonian verbalism or term, Czech: oblast, Slovak: oblasÅ¥, Russian, Ukrainian: о́бласть, Bulgarian: о́бласт) English equivalent area, province or zone. ...

Functionally, Ministries of Internal Affairs are mostly police agencies. Their functions and organization 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. Soviet and successor MVDs are usually headed by a militsiya general and predominantly consist of service personnel, with civil employees only filling auxiliary posts. Although such ministers are members of the respective country's cabinet, they usually do not report to the prime minister and parliament, but only to the president. Local departments are subordinate to their national ministry and are not controlled by local government organisations (although they do formally report to them). General is a high military rank, used by nearly every country in the world. ... A Cabinet is a body of high-ranking members of government, typically representing the executive branch. ... A prime minister may be either: chief or leading member of the cabinet of the top-level government in a country having a parliamentary system of government; or the official, in countries with a semi-presidential system of government, appointed to manage the civil service and execute the directives of... An aerial view of Parliament of India at New Delhi. ... President is a title held by many leaders of organizations, companies, universities, and countries. ... Local governments are administrative offices of an area smaller than a state. ...

Internal affairs units within the militsiya itself are usually called "internal security" departments. The internal affairs (United States terminology) division of a law enforcement agency investigates incidents and plausible suspicions of lawbreaking and professional misconduct attributed to officers on the force. ...

The official names of particular militsiya bodies and services in post-Soviet countries are usually very complicated, hence the use of the short term militsiya. Laws usually refer to police just as militsiya. Aphorism Critical legal studies Jurisprudence Law (principle) Legal research Letter versus Spirit List of legal abbreviations Legal code Natural justice Natural law Philosophy of law Religious law External links Find more information on Law by searching one of Wikipedias sibling projects: Wikibooks Wikiversity has more about this subject: School...

The short term for a police officer (regardless of gender) is militsioner (Russian: милиционер, Ukrainian: мiлiцiонер). Slang terms for militsioner include ment (plural: менты, menty) and musor (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 (МУС, short for Московский уголовный сыск) in Imperial Russia. Ment is a close equivalent to the English slang term "cop". Slang is the non-standard use of words in a language of a particular social group, and sometimes the creation of new words or importation of words from another language. ... Greater Arms of the Russian Empire, adopted in 1882 Flag of Russian Empire 1914-1917 Imperial Russia is the term used to cover the period of history from the expansion of Russia under Peter the Great, through the expansion of the Russian Empire from the Baltic to the Pacific Ocean...

General overview

The organizational structure, methods and traditions of the militsiya differ significantly from those customary in the West. Militsiya officers rank from sergeant (which is actually the lowest rank) to major general. Detectives (Russian: operativnik) hold a minimum rank of lieutenant. The militsiya of an oblast (or other equivalent subnational entity) is usually headed by a general. The rank name is suffixed with of militsiya (e.g. major of militsiya for a major). This article is about the rank of sergeant. ... Insignia of a United States Air Force Major General German Generalmajor Insignia Major General is a military rank used in many countries. ... A detective is an officer of the police who performs criminal or administrative investigations, in some police departments, the lowest rank among such investigators (above the lowest rank of officers and below sergeants). ... A Lieutenant is a military, paramilitary or police officer. ... An oblast (Slavonian verbalism or term, Czech: oblast, Slovak: oblasť, Russian, Ukrainian: о́бласть, Bulgarian: о́бласт) English equivalent area, province or zone. ... Subnational entity is a generic term for an administrative region within a country — on an arbitrary level below that of the sovereign state — typically with a local government encompassing multiple municipalities, counties, or provinces with a certain degree of autonomy in a varying number of matters. ... Major is a military rank. ...

Militsiya bodies are divided into functional departments, such as the GAI, a traffic police. Organized crime detectives form highly-independent squads inside regional militsiya. Some units may have the distinctive names (like OMON) which are more specific than militsiya or militsioner. A highway patrol is either a police agency created primarily for the purpose of overseeing traffic safety compliance on roads and highways, such as the California Highway Patrol, or a detail within an existing local or regional police agency that is primarily concerned with such duties, such as the HWP... Organized crime is crime carried out systematically by formal criminal organizations. ... The OMON insignia OMON or Otryad Militsii Osobogo Naznacheniya (Russian: Отряд милиции особого назначения, ОМОН; literally: Special Purpose Detachment of Militsiya) is a generic name for the system of special units of militsiya within the Russian and earlier the Soviet, Ministerstvo Vnutrennih Del (MVD; Ministry of Internal Affairs). ...

Militsiya personnel carry firearms. However, their usage is strictly limited so shooting cases are relatively rare in comparison to countries such as the United States. Militsioners are not permitted to carry their weapons when they are off duty. A firearm is a kinetic energy weapon that fires either a single or multiple projectiles propelled at high velocity by the gases produced by action of the rapid confined burning of a propellant. ...

Unlike in some other countries' police agencies, militsioners are not assigned permanent partners, but work alone or within larger groups. Neither street patrols nor detectives are allowed to drive police vehicles themselves, so a specialist driver (either a serviceman or a civil employee) is assigned to each car and is also in charge of its maintenance.

Although women constitute a significant proportion of militsiya staff, they are usually not permitted to fill positions which carry a risk (such as patrolman, guard, or detective), but are allowed to carry firearms for self-defense. Instead, they are widely represented among investigators, juvenile crime inspectors, clerks, etc. However, limited attempts are being made to appoint women as traffic officers and operativniks.

Non-police services of the MVD

It should be noted that Soviet/post-Soviet Ministries of Internal Affairs include (or included) not only police-like departments, but also:

• militarized forces ("MVD Troops" or "Internal Troops");
• department of prisons (GULAG and its successor bodies);
• firefighting service;
• passport and registration service;

These non-police services should be distinguished from the militsiya itself. Their members have always used different generic names and specific ranks (e.g. Major of the Internal Service, rather than Major of Militsiya). A military or military force (n. ... GULAG (Russian: Glavonoye Upravleniye Lagerey, Main Camp Administration) was the branch of the Soviet secret police (the NKVD and later on the KGB) that dealt with concentration camps. ... Firefighter in full turn out gear with a pickhead axe. ... The title page of European Union passports bears the name European Union, then the name of the issuing country, in the official languages of all EU countries. ...

Militsiya in Poland

Militsiya in Poland was known as the Milicja Obywatelska. It functioned from 1940s to 1989, when it was transformed into Policja. See also ZOMO. Militsiya (Russian: мили́ция; Ukrainian: міліція; Romanian: Miliţia; literally Militia) was the generic name for the police in the Soviet Union and a few other Communist countries. ... // Events and trends The 1940s were seen as a transition period between the radical 1930s and the conservative 1950s, which also leads the period to be divided in two halves: The first half of the decade was dominated by World War II, the widest and most destructive armed conflict in... 1989 (MCMLXXXIX) is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Riot police A riot policeman Policja is the generic name for the police in Poland. ... ZOMO units in Poland (1981) Zmotoryzowane Odwody Milicji Obywatelskiej (ZOMO) (Motorized Reserves of the Citizens Militia), were paramilitary riot police formations during the Communist Era, in Peoples Republic of Poland. ...

Militsiya in the Russian Federation

Throughout the first half of the 1990s, the Russian militsiya functioned with minimal funding, equipment, and support from the legal system. The inadequacy of the force became particularly apparent during the wave of organized crime that began sweeping Russia after the beginning of perestroika. Many highly qualified individuals moved from the militsiya into better-paying jobs in the field of private security, which has expanded to meet the demands of companies needing protection, while others joined the organized crime itself. Frequent taking of bribes among the remaining members of the militsiya has damaged the force's public credibility. Numerous revelations of participation by militsiya personnel in murders, prostitution rings, information peddling, and tolerance of criminal acts have created a general public perception that all militsioners are at least taking bribes. Bribery of officers to avoid penalty for traffic violations and petty crimes is a routine and expected occurrence, as well as tortures and abusing of suspects in the custody. The 1990s in its most obvious sense refers to the years 1990 to 1999. ... Organized crime is crime carried out systematically by formal criminal organizations. ... Perestroika   listen? (Перестро́йка) is the Russian word (which passed into English) for the economic reforms introduced in June 1987 by the Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. ... Prostitution is the sale of sexual services, such as oral sex or sexual intercourse, for money. ... A penalty is a punishment: a legal sentence, e. ... The Iron Maiden of Nuremberg was an infamous torture device. ... In the parlance of criminal justice, a suspect is a term used to refer to a person, known or unknown, suspected of committing a crime. ...

In a 1995 poll of the public, only 5 per cent of respondents expressed confidence in the ability of the militsiya to deal with crime in their city. Human rights organizations have accused the Moscow militsiya of racism in singling out non-Slavic individuals (especially immigrants from Russia's Caucasus republics), physical attacks, unjustified detention, and other rights violations. In 1995 Minister of Internal Affairs Anatoliy Kulikov conducted a high-profile "Clean Hands Campaign" to purge the MVD of corrupt elements. In its first year, this limited operation caught several highly placed MVD officials collecting bribes, indicating a high level of corruption throughout the agency. According to experts, the main causes of corruption are insufficient funding to train and equip personnel and pay them adequate wages, poor work discipline, lack of accountability, and fear of reprisals from organized criminals. 1995 (MCMXCV) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Human rights are rights which some hold to be inalienable and belonging to all humans. ... Moscow (Russian: Москва́, Moskva, IPA: (?)) is the capital of Russia, located on the river Moskva. ... The Slavic peoples are the most numerous ethnic and linguistic body of peoples in Europe. ... The Entholinguistic patchwork of the modern Caucasus - CIA map The Caucasus, a region bordering Asia Minor, is located between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea which includes the Caucasus Mountains and surrounding lowlands. ... The Ministerstvo Vnutrennikh Del (MVD) (Министерство внутренних дел) was the Ministry of Internal Affairs in the imperial Russia, late USSR, and still bears the same name in the Russian Federation. ...

The Day of Militsiya is held on November 10 in Russia. The results of a poll conducted on November 10, 2005, published by Izvestia, show that 72% of people are afraid of militsiya because the militiamen are thought to often take illegal actions against innocent people. November 10 is the 314th day of the year (315th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 51 days remaining. ... 2005 (MMV) is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Izvestia (the name in Russian means news and is short for Izvestiya Sovetov Narodnykh Deputatov SSSR, Известия Советов народных депутатов СССР, the Reports of Soviets of Peoples Deputies of the USSR) functioned as a long-running high-circulation daily newspaper in the Soviet Union. ...

Militsiya in Ukraine

The militsiya in Ukraine is officially called the MVS (Ukrainian: Міністерство внутрішніх справ; Ministerstvo Vnutrishnikh Sprav]], Ministry of Internal Affairs). The Ministerstvo Vnutrishnikh Sprav (MVS; Ministry of Internal Affairs) is the national police authority of Ukraine. ...

See also

• MVD
• MVS (Ukraine)
• NKVD
• OSNAZ
• OMON

The Ministerstvo Vnutrennikh Del (MVD) (Министерство внутренних дел) was the Ministry of Internal Affairs in the imperial Russia, late USSR, and still bears the same name in the Russian Federation. ... The Ministerstvo Vnutrishnikh Sprav (MVS; Ministry of Internal Affairs) is the national police authority of Ukraine. ... Black Ravens by Boris Vladimirski, a depiction of the cars used by NKVD agents. ... A member of the OSNAZ MVD Rus team. ... The OMON insignia OMON or Otryad Militsii Osobogo Naznacheniya (Russian: Отряд милиции особого назначения, ОМОН; literally: Special Purpose Detachment of Militsiya) is a generic name for the system of special units of militsiya within the Russian and earlier the Soviet, Ministerstvo Vnutrennih Del (MVD; Ministry of Internal Affairs). ...

External links

• Information from the July 1996 CIA World Factbook