Society militarization and strengthening of the state part became general tendencies in the development of the warring countries during the First World War. This led to a sharp increase in the number of duties of the general police, especially in the front-line provinces. However, the police staff of the pre-war time was kept unchanged until the end of 1916 in the Russian Empire. In fact, the number of the police even dropped as part of the police was mobilized into the army. In the frontline provinces the personnel problem was partly solved owing to the police officers evacuated from the provinces occupied by the enemy. General police officials could not perform efficiently the numerous demands of the military command. Thus, it led to strained relationships between the police officers and the army command, which dictated its terms to civil administration and police departments in the front-line provinces. The increase in the number of general police on the eve of the Revolution in Russia strengthened the police force only partially and didn't lead to the formation of a "Police state". In particular, the staff of the general police in Minsk and Vitebsk provinces increased only by 16 %. Police density increased only in the cities whereas in the countryside, where most of the country's population lived, the nature of the police presence had hardly changed. The pre-war projects were put in the basis of the institutional reform of the city and county offices. They did not take into account a wide range of new responsibilities in the frontline provinces, rising prices and the deterioration of the living conditions. It can be claimed that the interests and needs of the army were in the foreground for the Russian government in comparison to the political interests providing internal security.
