Militsiya
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Militsiya (Russian: мили́ция; Ukrainian: мiлiцiя; Belarusian: мiлíцыя; Polish: milicja; literally "militia") has been the short official name of the police in the Soviet Union and most Warsaw Pact states, inherited by some former Soviet states, such as Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. Considering etymology of the term and the distinctive local features, the militsiya should be considered a special kind of regional 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.
A similar name for police was used in some other countries: Romanian: Miliţia; Serbo-Croatian: Milicija; Poland: Milicja Obywatelska.
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[edit] 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 protecting" 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").
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. The Soviet and successor MVDs have usually been 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 militsiya departments are subordinated to their regional departments, having little accountability before local authorities.
Internal affairs units within the militsiya itself are usually called "internal security" departments.
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.
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".
[edit] General overview
The organizational structure, methods and traditions of the militsiya differ significantly from those of western police. Militsiya as an organization consists of many functional departments, such as the (GAI in Russia), a traffic police. Organized crime detectives form highly independent squads inside regional militsiya. Some units may have the distinctive names (like OMON in Russia) which are more specific than militsiya or militsioner.
Militsiya personnel ranks are fully the same as in the Russian Army - from private (Rus: ryadovoy which is actually the lowest rank) to colonel general - with only these exceptions: there are no ranks of Army General and Marshal. Detectives (Russian: operativnik) hold a ranks of lieutenant at least and could be promoted to major or the lieutenant colonel. 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).
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.
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 that carry risks (such as patrolman, guard, SWAT), 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 or operativniks.
[edit] Non-police services of the MVD
The Soviet and some post-Soviet Ministries of Internal Affairs have also included:
- militarized forces ( "Internal Troops );
- department of prisons (i.e. GULAG and its successor bodies), if not merged with other ministries or agencies;
- firefighting service, if not merged with Emergency Ministry;
- 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).
[edit] 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.
In a 1995 poll of the public, only 5% 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.
According to the country law, the militsiya ranks in Russia are classified as a "special ranks of the law-enforcement service" or "special ranks". Such a ranks are in general equal to the Russian military ranks. There are 3 types of the "special ranks": - militsiya ranks (for Ministry of internal affairs (MVD) personnel working in the general-purpose militsiya service), - justice ranks (equal to militsya but suffixed with "of justice") - for personnel of the MVD investigatory agancy departments, - internal service ranks (suffixed with "of internal service" - in general such personnel is weared into the Russian military uniform) - for the personnel of MVD, Ministry of the extraordinary situations and civil defence, Peneciary service on the servive of: fire guarde, migration service, administrative function and other. In some cases the personnel with the special ranks could be promoted into the military rank. For example if the officer of militsiya is removing to the Internal Troops. Another case: if it is necessary to promote the officer into the higher rank which is absent in militsiya ranks or in ranks of other special service.
The Day of Russian Militsiya is held on November 10. 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.
[edit] Militsiya in Ukraine
The militsiya in Ukraine is organized as the Ministry of Internal Affairs (Ukrainian: Ministerstvo Vnutrishnikh Sprav, MVS).
[edit] Militsiya in Poland
See Milicja Obywatelska.
[edit] References
- This article contains material from the CIA World Factbook which, as a U.S. government publication, is in the public domain. 1996
