OPERATIONAL SEARCH WORK OF THE GENERAL POLICE OF THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE AT THE END OF THE XVIII-FIRST HALF OF THE XIX CENTURIES (BASED ON THE MATERIALS OF THE SIMBIRSK PROVINCE)

Plokhoy Dmitry Sergeevich, Nekrasov Veniamin Arkadyevich, Chukanov Ivan Albertovich

the presented article reveals the features of the operational investigative activities of the general police of the Russian Empire in the investigation of serious anti-state and ordinary crimes at the end of the XVIII- first half of the XIX centuries on the materials of Central Russia and the provinces of the Middle Volga region. The authors rely on the materials of the investigation of criminal cases carried out by the officers of the general police and stored mainly in the funds of county courts, and also actively use the reports on the investigations carried out on the most high-profile and resonant crimes committed during the period under review, published in the periodical press of the mid-late XIX century. The authors of the article convincingly lead the reader to the idea that at the time under review, the Russian general police, despite all the shortcomings in its activities, successfully and effectively investigated most of the serious anti-state and criminal crimes that were typical of Russia at that time. It can be seen from the published materials that the most typical of serious crimes, except those that were specifically directed against the government and the state (for example, the Decembrist uprising on December 14, 1825), were crimes related to the relationship between peasants and landowners within the framework of the remaining serfdom, as well as serious criminal offenses directed against the individual and rights property. The study reveals the main shortcomings inherent in the work of the general police, which were due to the historical circumstances inherent in the period under review. It is convincingly proved that in the conditions of the prevailing serfdom relations, all the activities of the general police, controlled by the noblemen-governors, captain-police officers from the same estate, were often aimed at taking away the criminals-noblemen who cruelly mocked their peasants from criminal responsibility, hiding all the circumstances of the committed acts and shifting all the blame to the peasants who, according to the decisions of the courts were subjected to cruel punishments. There was also a pronounced contradiction between the requirements of the highest authorities on the full and complete observance of the rule of law and the prohibited methods of carrying out investigative activities by the police during investigations. The article is intended to expand the horizons of readers' cognitive activity aimed at studying the activities of the pre-revolutionary general police.

Keywords:criminal liability, legislation, general police, operational work, prevention, investigation, serfdom, judicial system, inquiry, investigative actions