During the imperial period of the existence of Russia, traditions were created by Catherine III. They remained until the beginning of the XX century. Many traditions were spelled out in the Charter of the Deanery of 1782. Legislators were guided by the Charter up to modern Russia. This determined the frequent unification of the stages of police development in one period, chronologically coinciding with the imperial period of the history of Russia (XVIII – early XIX century). The activities of the police were based on general moral rules for overseeing any order in the life of the society, performing a wide range of functions: political, law enforcement, fiscal and spiritual. One of the reasons for the traditional authority of the police was the class principle of the existence of society. Power was based on the landowner nobility. The legislation was distinguished by a mixture of moral councils and legal norms, temporary administrative orders and permanent laws. The monarchical supremacy of power over law was often manifested. The material support of the police was poor. This maintained personnel difficulties and elements of corruption. Many top officials of the state from M.M. Speransky to P.A. Stolypin called for changing the principles of the organization and functioning of the police. In the second half of the XIX century, the modern principles of judicial proceedings were implemented and reforms, aimed at dividing the powers of various power structures, were carried out. But the police remained the main administrative unit for the implementation of power in the province. Certain reforms of the beginning of the XX century (the creation of a police guard, separation from the rural police) had only a structural purpose and did not play a crucial role. This determined the conservatism, generalization and partly uncertainty in the activities of the police until the collapse of the empire in 1917.