ABSTRACT
The Temporary Rules and the debate over police reform that preceded them had focused primarily on the rural police and given short shrift to the cities, to the point of reducing their police staffing and budgets to provide resources for the counties. Believing that rural unrest, not urban violence, was the more pressing threat, the central authorities with few exceptions continued to neglect the cities well after the enactment of the Temporary Rules. St. Petersburg and Moscow, however, were explicitly excluded from the places in which the Temporary Rules were to be in force. Police in both cities would experience important changes in the rest of 1860s. Because of its greater political stature, however, St. Petersburg would be a particular focus of efforts to strengthen the police. Elsewhere, as with the reform of city government, which would be delayed until 1870, reform of the municipal police would languish to the detriment of the towns and cities they served.
