Foundation of Kaunas police and their activity in the first quarter of the XIXth century

Straipsnyje supažindinama su vienos svarbiausių XIX a. pirmosios pusės Kauno miesto institucijų – policijos valdybos – įkūrimo ir formavimo ypatumais, pateikiant kai kuriuos svarbesnius ir įdomesnius veiklos fragmentus ir įvykius. Kauno policija buvo formuojama palaipsniui – nuo paprastos sudėties su gorodničiumi priešaky 1799 metais iki policijos valdybos įsteigimo 1807 metais. Kauno policijos veikla ir egzistavimas iš valdžios pusės buvo grindžiamas tarnautojų skyrimu, galių ir funkcijų plėtimu, o iš miesto pusės – finansiniu aprūpinimu. Kadangi policijos išlaikymo našta krito ant miesto ir miestiečių pečių, mainais ši institucija ribojo miesto visuomenines pareigas ir funkcijas, visokeriopai kišdamasi į magistrato, dūmos veiklą. Kauno policijos valdyba – institucija, ne tik vykdžiusi valdžios vietos politiką ir įsakus, bet taip pat instancija, kuriai nebuvo svetimos žmogiškos aistros ir silpnybės.One of the administrative novelties in Lithuania at the beginning of the 19th century was the establishment of "the omnipotent Russian police" in Lithuanian towns. Regrettably, Lithuanian historiography has not investigated the process of the formation and the activities of the urban executive police as a town supervising institution. The formation of the Russian police apparatus in Lithuania was mostly affected by the Laws of Provinces of November 7, 1775 and the Police Law of 1782. The establishment of the urban executive police in Kaunas and other Lithuanian towns was carried out in several stages. There was a period when the functions of the police were performed by the army. Then followed the establishment of police offices that were strictly subjected to the superior institutions. The police, as the only town supervising institution, had to perform a number of other functions, such as reading and implementing decrees of the tsar, or maintaining public law and order. The urban executive police at the beginning of the 19th century was a new phenomenon in the towns of Lithuania which, nevertheless, considerably limited the rights and duties of their residents. However, the urban executive police was not only an instrument of the state control over the townspeople, but it was also an institution where human passions and foibles prospere