Saint Petersburg Police

The Saint Petersburg Police (Russian: полиция Санкт-Петербурга), officially the Main Administration for Internal Affairs of the City of St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Oblast (Главное управление внутренних дел Санкт-Петербурга и Ленинградской области) is the state police force of Saint Petersburg and Leningrad Oblast, Russia. The stated main responsibilities of the service are the internal security, protection of human rights and freedoms, suppression and detection of crime, and protection of public order.
It is one of the oldest police services in Russia and the world, established on June 7, 1718, by Peter the Great as the municipal police for the city of Saint Petersburg. During the Soviet era, from 1924 the service was known as the Leningrad Militsiya (Russian: милиция Ленинграда) until 1991, when it was changed to Saint Petersburg Militsiya (Russian: милиция Санкт-Петербурга). The service adopted its current name in 2011 following reform in law enforcement agencies across Russia replacing the term "Militsiya" with "police".
The Saint Petersburg Police belongs to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, an agency of the Government of Russia but is primarily subordinate to the state governments of Saint Petersburg and Leningrad Oblast, respectively. The service is headed by a commissioner appointed by the Governor of Saint Petersburg and is then confirmed by the Saint Petersburg Legislative Assembly on the recommendation of the President of Russia. The current Commissioner of Saint Petersburg Police since February 11, 2012, is Lieutenant-General Sergey Umnov.
The Saint Petersburg Police was established by Tsar Peter the Great on June 7, 1718, as the main municipal police force in Saint Petersburg, the capital of the Russian Empire which had been founded by Peter only fifteen years earlier. Anton de Vieira, a batman of Peter and mayor of Saint Petersburg at the time, was appointed as the first "Oberpolitzmeister" (a German, not Russian word: Senior Police Master), the title for the commander of the city police service. The department survived intact until 1917 during the February Revolution, when most of the Saint Petersburg Police remained loyal to the Imperial government. Several policemen were killed after the defection of the bulk of the city's army garrison to the revolution, especially when a rumor spread that the police were firing with machine guns from the roofs of buildings.
Shortly after the overthrow of the Imperial government, the department was formally disbanded. Following the October Revolution, a new Soviet police force was established under the title of Militsiya, which replaced the functions of the Saint Petersburg Police. In 1924, following the renaming of Saint Petersburg to Leningrad in honor of Vladimir Lenin, the city police were known as the Leningrad Militsiya (Russian: милицию Ленинграда. This name continued until 1991, shortly after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, when it was changed to Saint Petersburg Militsiya (милицию Санкт-Петербурга) after the name of the city was reverted. The service adopted its current name on March 1, 2011, as part of wider law enforcement legislative reform backed by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, which abandoned the usage of the term "Militsiya" in favor of the re-adoption of "Politsiya" (police) in law enforcement agencies across Russia.
The Commissioner of the Saint Petersburg Police, officially Head of Internal Affairs of Saint Petersburg, is a commissioner with authority as the head of the service, responsible for the day-to-day operation of the department as well as the appointment of deputies and subordinate officers. The Commissioner is a policeman administrator appointed by the appointed by the Governor of Saint Petersburg, confirmed after the approval of the Saint Petersburg Legislative Assembly by recommendation of the President of Russia, and serves indefinitely at the Governor's will. The position is sometimes mistaken as the Chief of Police, which is separate from the Saint Petersburg Police and the holder of which serves as the Deputy to the Head of Internal Affairs.
The current Commissioner is Lieutenant-General Roman Plugin, who was appointed by Governor Aleksander Beglov and took office in 2019. The longest-serving Commissioner is Aleksander Sokolov, who served as Commissioner of the Leningrad Militsiya for 10 years (1962–1972), under Mayors Vasily Isayev and Aleksandr Sizov.
The position of Commissioner can be traced back to the position of Oberpolitzmeister, meaning "Chief master of the police" in German, created by Tsar Peter the Great when he founded the Saint Petersburg Police in 1718 to take charge of the day-to-day operation of the service.