Uprava Blagochiniia

(board of police), a city police body in St. Petersburg, Moscow, and provincial capitals of Russia. The first upravy blagochiniia were established in 1782.

The uprava blagochiniia was responsible for the implementation of the orders of the local administration and the decisions of the courts. In addition, it supervised trade and oversaw the provision of public services. The police functions of the uprava blagochiniia were carried out through the chastnye pristavy (chiefs of police units) and kvartal’nye nadzirateli (supervisors of police sections). The uprava blagochiniia had some judicial power: it handled minor criminal and civil cases—that is, cases involving a sum of not more than 20 rubles.

In St. Petersburg and Moscow the uprava blagochiniia was headed by the ober-politsmeister; in the provinces it was headed by the politsmeister. As a result of the bourgeois reforms of the 1860’s and 1870’s, the uprava blagochiniia lost some of its authority. Judicial matters were removed from its jurisdiction in 1864, and the provision of public services in 1870. The uprava blagochiniia in St. Petersburg was abolished in 1877, and the one in Moscow in 1881. By the end of the 19th century all the upravy blagochiniia had gone out of existence. They were replaced by the chancelleries of the ober-politsmeistery, politsmeistery, and gradonachal’niki and the provincial and city police administrations.