| It must be admitted that the Police Museum has existed in Kharkov for a long time now. There were a number of similar museums in the former Soviet Union, but our museum was the envy for the high rank police officials from other towns. There were even attempts to emulate Kharkov. But during the period of separation, re-partition and desovietisation the museum was forgotten. | ||
| However there are people in Kharkov who realise that history is history no matter what others want to look it like. It is memory and experience of the past generations, and without realising it nothing can be achieved either now or in the future. | ||
| The museum was restored taken care of by the chief of home affairs administrative department Vitaly Muzyka who initiated and closely watched over the restoration. More than that the decision was taken to create a commemorative complex with a monument to police officers killed by criminal offenders during piece time. This monument was set up in 1995 and became an integral part of the Alchevskys house, the chapel, and the park in Sovnarkomovskaya street. It came to be a tradition for Kharkov police to mark the police day here, young officers of the administrative department swear here officially. | ||
| But there is more to it. Something that is really good will always draw attention to it. Now Kharkov police memorial, the only one in Ukraine, is put on the visit list of VIPs coming to Kharkov. They visit the memorial and place a wreath on the monument. An example is the President of Ukraine's visit to Kharkov in autumn 1997. | ||
| Everyone who visits the museum will find many interesting things: counterfeit foreign banknotes and papers - "masterpieces" made by "artists" of criminal world, self made weapons seized from gangsters, and a formal helmet of an English policeman - a present from British colleagues to Kharkov Police Museum. But the most elevated impression that one gets here is the feeling of unity of the past, the present and the future: the museum does not make division between Tsarist, Soviet and sovereign history. The exhibits tell about the formation of the law and order office in Kharkov since the time it was created. | ||
| As the town was growing, its advantageous position and fast economic development always attracted not only merchants and entrepreneurs, manufacturers and factory owners, businessmen, artists and scientists. The representatives of the criminal world were just as interested in it. And they had to be fought against. And this fight was successfully waged by consecutive chiefs of the police office in various periods of history. | ||
| Even one hundred times longer description of the museum will not be enough to find out the truth. The museum must be visited. | ||
