ABSTRACT
In his annual report for 1855, his first to new Tsar Alexander II, new Russian Minister of Internal Affairs Sergei Lanskoi apologized for the state of the local police: “Majesty! I dare not and must not conceal the true state of these officials . . . because without such knowledge improving them will be impossible. Rather, I am obliged to inform Your Imperial Highness that the police often fail to carry out their assignments and, when they do execute them, do so poorly because of their moral corruption . . . . In the view of our people, a police search in a village is a calamity equal to that of fire.” Recalling a survey of provincial governors 10 years earlier, Lanskoi noted approvingly that several had said that for all practical purposes there were no police. 1
