Activities of police agencies to maintain public order during World War I (based on materials from Vladimir Province)

This article examines the activities of police agencies to maintain public order during World War I in Vladimir Province. The authors analyse current tasks assigned to the authorities during the war; they also characterise the main areas of police work, and identify the specifics of combating crime during this period. The issues raised in the work remain insufficiently studied in Russian historiography. The research is of a regional nature and is based on the study of periodicals and sources stored in the funds of the State Archive of Vladimir Region, many of which had been introduced into scientific circulation for the first time. The article concludes that in wartime, police officers, in addition to fulfilling their direct duties, performed many additional functions (helping refugees, fighting epidemics, overseeing the observance of sanitary requirements by citizens, etc.). Revealing the results of police activity in the territory of Vladimir Province during World War I, the authors identify the problems faced by law enforcement agencies: low wages, lack of staff and weapons, and sometimes an irresponsible attitude towards the service of police officers. The study endpoint is February 1917, when, with the beginning of the revolutionary events, drastic changes took place in the composition, functions and activities of law enforcement agencies.