From the First File Cabinets to Digital Technologies: The History and Present of Criminal Investigation in Ukraine
On April 15, Ukraine celebrates Criminal Investigation Workers’ Day — a professional holiday of one of the most elite services, which has been at the forefront of the fight against crime for centuries. In their daily work, they have to face direct danger, their work requires endurance, knowledge of human psychology, precision in actions and full readiness for risk. They do not appear on television, do not comment on their affairs publicly, and are often left out of official summaries. However, the role of criminal investigation in the law enforcement system is always key: identifying murderers, searching for missing persons, combating serial crimes, establishing the circumstances of the most complicated cases. How was criminal investigation transformed and how does it live today?
A rich history of criminal investigation
Numerous series, books, and memoirs were dedicated to him, but the real criminal investigation always remained a little out of the picture. What everyone sees on their screens is mostly a scripted version of the profession. April 15, 1919 is considered the founding date of criminal investigation of Ukraine, but in general its history begins long before these times, it unfolds in parallel with the emergence and evolution of crime itself.
The emergence of crime fighters coincides with the emergence of the first organized societies and the first crimes. When property, power, and social hierarchy appeared, then violators of social rules also appeared, as well as the need to identify, catch and punish them. In the most ancient civilizations of Mesopotamia, Egypt, China, India, there were already functions that today can be interpreted as primitive forms of search. The Sumerian laws, in particular the Code of Ur-Nammu (about 2100 BC), provided for the prosecution of the criminal, the collection of evidence, the proof of guilt, albeit in a rudimentary form. In the famous Babylonian Code of King Hammurabi, it is about the duty of the community to help in the search for kidnappers, thieves, and murderers. At the same time, a severe punishment was provided for concealing a criminal or remaining silent.
In ancient Egypt, the observance of laws was monitored by special maat officials who collected evidence, conducted investigations, and interrogated. It was then that the idea of proof and guilt was formed, although it was deeply connected with religious ideas. In ancient China, during the Shang and Zhou dynasties, there were investigative officials who recorded crimes, looked for the guilty, and analyzed the circumstances. Even then, the first idea about the motive appeared – for example, family feud or revenge.
In the Greek polis, the search functions were performed by slave formations of “spyoi”, which caught murderers, thieves, and debtors. In the Roman Republic, with the development of jurisprudence, a system of prosecution was also formed in parallel — magistratus conducted pre-trial proceedings, summoned witnesses, and collected accusations. At the same time, patricians often used the services of private detectives or clients who conducted intelligence on opponents.
In medieval Europe, investigative functions were carried out spontaneously: there were “night watchmen”, “peacekeepers” or “investigating judges” in communities, but their activities were more reminiscent of maintaining public order than systematic work on gathering evidence. The criminal was caught red-handed, or he was wanted based on rumors, denunciations or confessions. In Renaissance Italy, the Republic of Venice introduced a system of denunciations – the famous “Bocche di Leone” (“mouths of the lion”), where reports about suspects could be dropped anonymously.
The first sprouts of institutionalized search appeared in France in the 18th century. In 1749, the prototype of the modern criminal investigation was formed in Paris – the Brigade de la Sûreté, headed by Henri-Francois Vidoc. It is noteworthy that the former criminal Vidok became a legend of the investigation – it was he, using his knowledge of the criminal world, who first used the method of reincarnation, created a file of criminals, introduced the practice of agent work and became the prototype of many literary detectives, in particular Javert from Victor Hugo’s Les Miserables. His service was later transformed into the National Police of France.
In the 19th century, the revolution in criminal investigation was caused by the development of criminology. Alphonse Bertillon proposed a system of anthropometry — identification of a person by measurements of body parts (anthropometric data). His method, bertillonage, involved photography, fingerprinting, and recording physical characteristics, including the shape of ears or the length of fingers. In 1883, this system made it possible to prove recidivism for the first time – thanks to the coincidence of the parameters of one detainee with data from a previous case. It was a real breakthrough: detectives finally got a tool to “read” the criminal’s tracks.
At the same time, another model was being created in Great Britain — CID, Criminal Investigation Department. Founded in 1878, it combined the principles of organized investigation and analytics. His agents worked undercover, used systematic documentation and cooperation with private investigators. It was the British who became the pioneers of graphology, the development of criminal profiles and the collection of crime statistics.
In the Russian Empire, criminal investigation as an organizational structure took shape only at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. In 1907, the first search units were created, which specialized in the pursuit of recidivists. They had a powerful agency, access to the card file, special instructions for keeping records of criminals. The search led cases against pickpockets, fraudsters, murderers. In its structure, ex-criminals were actively used as informants, a method later adopted by the Soviet Chekists. In 1886, the first detective unit was created in St. Petersburg under the office of the mayor, headed by Ivan Putilin, one of the key figures of early professional detective work. Officials, detectives and freelance agents worked in the structure of the unit.
Gradually, similar departments appeared in other large cities. In Kharkiv, the search department began to operate in 1902, and already in 1910, a kennel of service dogs was created here, which were used in operational activities throughout the country. In Kyiv, between 1901 and 1907, the service actively developed under the leadership of Hryhoriy Rudy, it was he who first introduced dactyloscopy, created a canine service, and introduced field kits for recording traces at the crime scene.
At the beginning of the 20th century, “flying squads” were created in the Katerynoslav province (now Dnipropetrovsk region), which operated outside the city limits and specialized in solving specific types of crimes. In the search structure, separate units were gradually formed: detention, surveillance, information and registration work.
On April 15, 1919, by decree of the Council of People’s Commissars of the Ukrainian SSR, the judicial and criminal investigation service was officially established. Initially, it was subordinated to the People’s Commissariat of Justice. Functionally, the criminal investigation was engaged in preparation for the investigation, searching for suspects, processing primary information. In February 1920, the service was transferred to the NKVD, where it was combined with the police. During this period, the search structure acquired a more centralized form, agent methods were actively used, operative files were created, and an internal registration system was implemented. The search task became not only the documentation of already committed crimes, but also the prevention of new ones through active prevention.
During the Second World War, criminal investigation was integrated into the system of military counterintelligence, the investigation performed the functions of both internal security and political control. Employees of criminal investigation caught deserters, “enemies of the people”, saboteurs. After the end of the Second World War, criminal investigation faced new challenges. Structures that had previously been part of the military apparatus or worked for political intelligence returned to the functions of criminal investigation, but in the reality of post-war chaos, this meant the fight against completely new forms of crime, which traditionally become more active after all wars. Mass movements of the population, the emergence of the “black market”, the devaluation of official trade mechanisms, the circulation of trophy property, the return from the front of numerous criminals and recidivists who were amnestied during the war, led to an increase in the number of thefts, robberies and murders. At the same time, the formation of large gang formations took place, in particular in the occupation zones, around major transport hubs and on the outskirts of cities. Internal troops were involved in patrolling together with search parties. However, most of the operational work fell on the shoulders of “old staff” – those who worked in the pre-war period.
At this time, the card file system is actively developing, and the introduction of a centralized record of criminals begins. Photographs, descriptive questionnaires, and fingerprints are used in the search. The methods of criminal investigation remained crude, based mainly on intelligence work, the use of denunciations, and repeated interrogations. At the same time, for the first time at the system level, instructions for recording the crime scene, investigative tactics, and documenting suspicions appeared.
In the “disastrous” 1990s, the criminal investigation system in Ukraine, like the entire law enforcement vertical, found itself in a state of deep crisis. The collapse of the USSR led to the dismantling of the centralized structure, the loss of the usual channels of coordination, a shortage of funding, and most importantly, to the destruction of control over the situation on the ground. For example, for Kharkiv (“police city”), which since Soviet times had the reputation of a city with a powerful police infrastructure, this had a double meaning: on the one hand, potential, on the other, a tense environment for the power business. Kharkiv had an extensive criminal investigation network — from the regional office to branches in every district of the city. At the same time, it made the city attractive for illegal law enforcement agencies and semi-criminal businesses that were looking for connections in the police environment.
Criminal investigation of Ukraine was forced to work in conditions of constant competition with private security structures, “the roof”, former military, which created power groups on the order of business. At the same time, most of the operatives worked on the edge – with minimal material support, without modern equipment, but with high motivation. At the same time, those units that were closest to the “power” points – the fight against banditry, the departments for the fight against organized crime (UBOZ) had a real influence. Often their tasks were deformed under the influence of political and business interests. At the same time, a strong school of operational skills remained in the country, mentors of young personnel tried to preserve ethical and professional standards despite the general degradation of the system.
In the 2000s, criminal investigations in Ukraine focused on solving high-profile murders, high-profile attacks, serial thefts and fighting organized crime groups. Operative groups were active in the regions: going to the scene of the crime, conducting interrogations, working on intelligence information, “intercepting” mobile conversations. Special attention was paid to the professional training of “raiders” and “tourers” – criminals operating in several areas. Gradually, new challenges appeared – the increase in the number of organized crimes, the expansion of the “black” market for weapons and drugs. Detectives worked under heavy workloads, often without days off, with monthly reports on detainees, cases solved and property seized. The technique was weak, but experience, intuition and sources in the environment helped.
Among the typical operations were the capture of serial killers, the neutralization of gangs, “trace after trail” for audacious robberies, inspections of pawnshops, night markets and apartments of criminals. The real school was night shifts, developing a suspect “from scratch”, tracking traffic, communicating with shady informants. The search of those years was based on specific people who knew “their area” and criminal connections well, had a powerful intelligence apparatus, remembered dozens of surnames and nicknames, could sense a lie at a glance.
Criminal investigation in today’s conditions
With the beginning of a full-scale war in Ukraine, criminal investigation officers faced new challenges. To the usual cases – murders, kidnappings, disappearances, attacks – were added war crimes, looting, the search for sabotage and intelligence groups, investigations of torture and executions in the occupied territories. Their work often doesn’t make the news, but without it, no in-depth war crimes case is possible. At the same time, in many cases it is criminal investigation operatives who find witnesses, identify persons who cooperated with the occupiers, and document evidence of participation in torture or executions. This is extremely difficult, dangerous and at the same time invisible work.
Modern Ukrainian criminal investigation is not a quiet office with protracted cases of petty fraud, but the front. And not only figuratively. After 2014, and especially after February 24, 2022, the criminal investigation in Ukraine underwent a radical transformation: from an apparatus that investigated crimes after the fact, it turned into an operational unit of direct action, “universal soldiers” who work on the border of forces, mainly without days off, under fire, sometimes with a machine gun, instead of a protocol.
Criminal investigation today uses analytical platforms that in peacetime would not even be associated with the police. For example, automatic face recognition systems, phone traffic analytics, access to geolocation reports, parsing of social networks, decryption of messengers, work with large arrays of bank transactions. Some departmental investigators work with programs that allow you to build complete connections between people involved in cases — from Telegram contacts to movement routes. Analytics is moving from classic tables to visual graphs — and this radically speeds up work.
Analytical groups have now been created in every large regional administration, which receive operational information from patrol and territorial units, process it in real time and issue guidance or decisions — without bureaucratic delay. This is especially important in the conditions of martial law, when the calculation is not in days, but in hours. The cyber component is increasingly important in investigative work: digital traces of crime, exposure of online fraud schemes, identification of persons who organize forged documents, banking instruments, fictitious immigration payments or smuggling. Today, it is impossible to imagine an operative without access to Telegram, Signal, virtual numbers and OSINT databases.
After February 24, many criminal investigation operatives voluntarily joined the Armed Forces, the National Guard, and special forces units. Many remained in the rear, but from the first days took part in sweeps, searching for saboteurs, arresting collaborators. In the de-occupied areas, criminal investigation operatives were the first to enter the destroyed cities, find places of execution, record evidence of war crimes, detain people who cooperated with the occupiers or remained “sleeper” agents.
It is known that in Kharkiv, Chernihiv, and Kherson detectives worked on the line of detection of the DRG, monitored mobile phone signals, went on night operations — without publicity, armor, and guarantees of return. In Buch and Izyum, it was the search team, together with the investigators, who began excavating mass graves. In Kyiv, in March 2022, a group of operatives detained saboteurs with coordinators on the right bank, despite the fact that the entire infrastructure was already partially paralyzed. Unfortunately, there are deaths among criminal investigation workers, and these are not isolated cases. They die while performing combat missions as part of special forces, while documenting enemy collaboration networks, etc.
Criminal investigation today is a hybrid front. It is staffed by specialists who at the same time must be analysts, detectives, field officers and people capable of going out on a night raid and returning with evidence, not just suspicions. These are the ones who don’t appear in the news, but whose work is at the heart of the silence we are used to in the rear. They do not take off their helmets, but wear civilian clothes, work without the right to make a mistake, because it costs life. And often — theirs. Generation after generation of searchers leave, some leave the service due to age, others die, but pass the baton of the feat to their colleagues. “Sisk” is eternal and it continues!
Oksana Ishchenko
