The Saint Petersburg Police (), officially the Main Administration for Internal Affairs of the City of St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Oblast (Главное управление внутренних дел Санкт-Петербурга и Ленинградской области) is the state police force of Saint Petersburg and Leningrad Oblast, Russia. The main responsibilities of the service are the internal security, protection of human rights and freedoms, suppression and detection of crime, and protection of public order. It is one of the oldest police services in Russia and the world, established on June 7, 1718, by Peter the Great as the municipal police for city of Saint Petersburg. During the Soviet era, from 1924 the service was known as the Leningrad Militsiya () until 1991, when it was changed to Saint Petersburg Militsiya (). The service adopted its current name in 2011 following reform in law enforcement agencies across Russia replacing the term "militsiya" with "police". The Saint Petersburg Police belongs to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, an agency of the Government of Russia, but is primarily subordinate to the state governments of Saint Petersburg and Leningrad Oblast, respectively. The service is headed by a Commissioner appointed by the Governor of Saint Petersburg, and is then confirmed by the Saint Petersburg Legislative Assembly on the recommendation of the President of Russia. The current Commissioner of Saint Petersburg Police since February 11, 2012, is Lieutenant-General Sergey Umnov. History Tsarist era The Saint Petersburg Police was established by Tsar Peter the Great on June 7, 1718, as the main municipal police force in Saint Petersburg, the capital of the Russian Empire which had been founded by Peter only fifteen years earlier. Anton de Vieira, a batman of Peter and mayor of Saint Petersburg at the time, was appointed as the first "Oberpolitzmeister" (a German, not Russian word: Senior Police Master), the title for the commander of the city police service. The department survived intact until 1917 during the February Revolution, when most of the Saint Petersburg Police remained loyal to the Imperial government. A number of policemen were killed after the defection of the bulk of the city's army garrison to the revolution, especially when a rumour spread that the police were firing with machine guns from the roofs of buildings. Soviet and post-Soviet periods Shortly after the overthrow of the Imperial government the department was formally disbanded. Following the October Revolution, a new Soviet police force was established under the