Organization, state and activity of criminal investigation units intelligence work in the Middle Volga Region in the first half of the 1920s

The paper reflects the issues of formation and development of the agency work of state security and law enforcement agencies in the first half of the 1920s. The author considers the process of operational work formation of the criminal investigation department. Legal documents regulating the secret work of the Cheka and NKVD bodies are also considered. The categories of criminal investigation agents, the requirements imposed on them, the rules for building and controlling covert work, and the amount of funding are specified. Development and formation of the secret work of central and local criminal investigation institutions is traced on the example of the provincial criminal investigation departments of the Middle Volga region. On the basis of archival documents, the complexity and unevenness of this process in the regions are noted; the main problems (organizational, personnel and material) and the measures taken to eliminate them and improve the secret work are reflected. Materials of all-Russian congresses of NKVD territorial bodies heads show that much attention was paid to the organization of intelligence and operational work. The practical significance of covert work on the activities of the criminal investigation department is considered. The author has analyzed the influence of the received agent information by the Penza provincial department of criminal investigation on the activity of solving crimes in the second half of 1922.