The History of the Academy of the Ministry of Interior
The Academy of the Ministry of Interior is a higher education institution in the Republic of Bulgaria training civil servants for the needs of the Ministry of Interior, as well as specialists for other law enforcement institutions.
The Academy of the Ministry of Interior is a university of professionally oriented education and training based on modern scientific achievements in the field of national security, whose graduates are called upon to protect citizens, the community and European values.
Within the frames of the Ministry of the Interior, established on July 5, 1879, a police-administrative unit was set up. Its staff, who initiated the police organization in our country, had no special education and training. Professional skills and knowledge Bulgarian police officers gained within the course of their service. There were no schools or training courses. The training of police guards was entrusted to administrative and police chiefs, but it was unsystematic.
At the end of the nineteenth century, there was a jump in the organization and the content of police education. The name of Stefan Stambolov as Prime Minister and Minister of Interior is related to the extensive construction of state institutions, the building of more political relations, the progress of the economy and culture. For the police, this progress is reflected in the laying down and improvement of its legal framework, the adoption of European modern means of policing and the introduction of compulsory special education for police officers.
In December 1889 the first Police Law in Bulgaria was adopted. According to it, only a person who had completed a training course could be appointed as a police officer.
Police education has evolved since the adoption of the Police Guards Training Course Rules of 1907. The emphasis was given on procedural law and the detailed study of the legal framework of the organization and activities of the Bulgarian police within the process of legal and special training. Police tactics were presented as a discipline in theoretical form for the first time. The first theoretical work on police activity and organization, a modern textbook on police theory and practice, was published in 1912. It pointed out that a special branch of science, already known in Europe as the 'scientific police', was developing on Bulgarian soil.
The adoption of the Administration and Police Law in 1925 marked a new stage in the development of the Bulgarian police and the closely related education. The law introduced an educational qualification, defined the order for training and transfer of the service and placed higher demands on police officers. It also envisaged the opening of a police school.
Following the Ministerial Order of August 26, 1925, the first head of the school, Svetoslav Paskalev, was appointed. On December 21, 1925, the first 70-day training course for 34 senior guards began, followed in early 1926 by a training course for 60 junior guards.
The first training course for police bailiffs was held on September 12, 1927. On December 26, 1927, the first training course for traffic control guards began.
The first one-month training course for group chiefs and agents started on January 26, 1928.
The first dactyloscopy course was held in Gorna Dzhumaya (Blagoevgrad) in 1931.
The first training course for police interrogators was opened in 1933.
Based on the State Police Law and the practical experience gained, a broad police education system was developed after 1937, which was ex-pressed in the outgrowth of the school into the State Police School, in the development of educational programs, the increase in the number of students, general and special training courses, the introduction of new university and police disciplines.
The strategy of police training was also affected by changes in the political situation in the country and the world since March 1941. Branches of the State Police School were opened in Pirot, Skopje and Serres.
The idea of a higher police education with a preponderance of legal training was dropped out from the educational programs and the disciplines providing tactical knowledge in-creased. The duration, the volume and the number of disciplines in the school courses decreased, the level of teaching decreased, the discipline of the trainees deteriorated. On September 8, 1944, under such conditions, the State Police School dissolved itself.
After 9th September 1944, the police system was disbanded, and the People's Militia was created in its place. A new system of training and preparation began.
By letter No. 7838 of October 4, to the police commander of the capital, the Directorate of 'Uniformed Militia and Training Division of the People's Militia' ordered: 'The State Police School for Militiamen to begin training courses with a one-month course on October 9, 1944.'
Schools to prepare the regular and command staff of the uniformed militia were opened in Plovdiv and Pleven by an order of the Minister of Interior No. 2994 of October 1944.
On November 13, 1944, regular classes began at the StateMilitia School in Sofia.
In January 1945 a branch of the Plovdiv State Militia School was opened in Burgas. The Director of the People's Militia Directorate appointed a commission at the Sofia State Militia School to 'review, correct, submit for approval and introduce the existing police training facilities in all state militia schools.'
In January 1947 the State Security Directorate organized a school, named Central School under the State Security Directorate, for the training and preparation of the leadership and intelligence officers of the State Security Service.
On November 13, 1948, the Council of Ministers provided buildings and territories located between the villages of Darvenitsa and Simeonovo to the Ministry of Interior School - SS and NM, which used to belong to the American College before 1941.
In March 1949, a Central school of the Ministry of the Interior was established, based on the existing three police schools in the country and the Central School under the State Security Directorate. Decree No. 454 of the Presidium of the Grand National Assembly gave the school the name of 'Georgi Dimitrov'.
In 1952 the Central School was reorganized into the Higher School 'G. Dimitrov'- the Ministry of Interior. In October, regular classes begin with one and two years of training.
In the following 1953, the Collegium considered it appropriate to separate the National militia courses from the Higher School by establishing an independent School for the People's Militia, which was officially opened on May 10, 1953, starting with a 3-month training course for operational workers from the National Militia.
During the period 1953 - 1956 active work was done for the validation of the existing schools and courses at the Ministry of Interior and the attainment of the status of a higher education institution. The Order of the Council of Ministers confirmed the legal status of the institutions of the Ministry of the Interior, established the positions of Head of Department, teacher and assistant, prepared a proposal for the Higher School to be reorganized into a Higher Institute, the consent of the Faculty of Law at the Sofia University was given to enable the personnel of the Ministry of Interior to receive higher law education.
A decree of Council of Ministers No. 176 of 1957 established a two-year law course at the school, which began classes on September 2 with 52 students from the State Security and 36 from the National Militia. The successful graduates were entitled to continue their studies at the Faculty of Law of Sofia University part-time.
On August 21, 1969, by Decree No. 796, the Presidium of the National Assembly established the Higher Special School 'Georgi Dimitrov' - the Ministry of Interior. A model of higher specialized professional education, with a 4-year term of training and a system of courses for the training and retraining of officers, was enforced. Three faculties - State Security, People's Militia and Fire Safety-were opened. The 'G. Dimitrov' Higher School received the status of a higher education institution with the prospect of taking a place in the national educational system and the right to acquire a civic specialty.
A complete reorganization with the mission for high professionalism was made in the following areas of activity: administration, training, research, creation of scientific potential, the introduction of new technologies and innovative processes in training, creation of training and material facilities. The graduates were awarded a higher education diploma valid for all institutions in the country.
In 1972, by Order No. 628 of the Council of Ministers, the specialties for which the training was conducted, were approved:
- Public Order Management and Security of the People's Republic of Bulgaria;
- Public order management and ensuring safe traffic in the streets and on the roads;
- Fire fighting equipment and safety.
While solving the important question: whether to be a school or not to be a higher education institution, a Center for Applied and Educational Activity in Psychology and Scientific Organization of Operational Labor and a Specialized Scientific Council for Philosophy and Legal Sciences were established. The number of subjects in the three faculties was at least 80% of the classes at the Faculty of Law of the Sofia University and the Higher Institute of Architecture and Civil Engineering.
In July 1987, the Decree No. 2415 of the National Council of the People's Republic of Bulgaria changed the status of the Higher Education Institute, renamed as the Higher Institute of 'G. Dimitrov', with a training period of 5 years. The graduates were awarded a diploma for special education and civic specialty.
In 1988 the management of the institute drafted the ‘Basic guidelines for re-arrangement of G. Dimitrov Higher Institue’ and submitted it to the Ministry of Interior. The Institute established itself as a complex training, scientific and applied center for educating staff of the Ministry of Interior and implementation activities for the development of operative theory and practice.
The curricula of the higher regular courses followed all the legal subjects of the Sofia University Law Faculty curriculum as until the end of the 1989/1990 academic year, the civil law graduates were recognized as graduates of the departments of State Security and National Police.
In 1991, based on the Ministry of the Interior Act, the Higher Institute ‘Georgi Dimitrov’ was trans-formed into the Higher Institute for Officer Training and Research (VI-POND).
Since 2001 VIPOND has been holding institutional accreditation for 5 years. The training is organized following the Higher Education Law, the state requirements for the 'bachelor', 'master' and 'doctor' degrees as well as with the modern needs of academic practice.
By a decision of the National Assembly of June 14, 2002, VI-POND was transformed into a university, called the Academy of the Ministry of Interior - a legal entity with its flag, seal and holiday - October 1st.
Initially, the Academy had three faculties:
Faculty of Security;
Faculty of Police and
Faculty of Fire and Emergency Safety.
Subsequently, due to changes and restructuring at the Ministry of Interior, the Faculty of Security was closed, and the Department of Fire and Emergency Safety changed its name into the Faculty of Fire Safety and Population Protection.
