The transformation of the tsarist police into a people’s militia in Tobolsk province (March - April 1917)

The article examines the process of transformation of police departments into people’s militia at the level of the Tobolsk province, implemented by the Provisional Government in the wake of the democratization of life in the spring of 1917. The liquidation of the police as a body of protection of the tsarist regime became irreversible. Based on the analysis of archival documents, it was found that there was no uniformity in the implementation of the police reform. Local authorities have approached the reform in different ways. The provisional public security committees established in March in the cities and counties of the province began to close police departments, seal premises, correspondence and files, weapons and other property, and dismiss employees. In some volosts there were pogroms and looting of police stations done by the population. In general, the replacement of the police with the militia in the province was delayed, it was tense, but bloodless. According to the author’s calculations, most of the class ranks of the police were suspended from work, about 25 % quit themselves and about 7 % were called up for military service. In some towns and villages, a small part of the employees of the former police “transferred” to the police, which indicates continuity in the reform. The author came to the conclusion that the shortage of personnel, the ongoing war, and the lack of funds hindered the creation of the people’s militia, and replacing professional police officers with equivalent militiamen turned out to be a difficult task, which negatively affected the state of law and order in the region.