In the beginning police and safety personnel were officials from the village. The mayor and his council could take police measures in cases of theft, brawls, non compliance with official orders, etcetera. They could arrest lawbreakers. They could also admonish disorderly and lazy settlers and fine them. If deemed necessary they could also order community labor or arrest, then to jail time of water and bread. If these punishments did not correct the problems, the village mayor in agreement with the most respected colonists could issue corporal punishment up to thirty lashes. If required, the colonial inspector came forth.

Ostrok was the name of the village jail and each village had one. The Krasna jail was a small room in the chancellory with a bench to sit on and a cot to sleep on.

Ruscheinsky ¹⁾) gives an anecdote about the jail of Krasna: There are some funny village anecdotes in reference to our former head mayors. For instance, at one time, an older fellow, M.H. was arrested. In the simple Krasna vernacular, people said M.H. has to sit (in jail). The jail was ugly. Consisted of one room, a small chamber. A cell with a bench to sit on and a cot to sleep on. Only male prisoners were incarcerated for two days. Women had to work in community buildings in labor assigned to them, like white washing walls. In the case of M.H., the main judge desired to lessen the punishment for the old man and sent the policeman to his jail cell to let the old man go. M.H. refused to leave. The policeman said, “Just go, you are free!” M.H. responded, “I have to sit in prison here and I shall continue doing so.”

The structure of police and safety organizations was revised several times before it crystallized like this around 1890:

• Krasna belonged to district Akkerman. At the helm was the “Kapitan Ispravnik” who had great police authority.
• Then came the “zemski natschalnik,” the county overseer, who mainly concerned himself with the supercision of several wolosts and was also familiar with police tasks. His office was also in Tarutino.
• Within the wolost the police was represented by the Pristav (police chief) and an Urjadnik (police lieutenant or sergeant) and one or two policemen supervised by the Stanowoj Pristav.
  The Pristav and the Urjadniki had other observational functions. In the exterior service also mounted police were used and their leader was called a Strschnik.
• The mayor/chief mayor still held police power.
• Sotski and Desjaktski were new officials and the Sotski, representing the mayor, was in charge of hiring herdsmen, looking after the community pasture, handling fire safety and the supply of transportation and labor forces.
  The Desjatskie, or auxiliary police force, handled community police tasks, supervised the youths, handled disturbances of the peace, scheduled the night watches and supervised them.

The safety of the community and the citizens was assured by watches (self-protection), organized by the community in compliance with the instructions of 1803 and the law of 1871. E. Ruscheinsky ²⁾ writes: The chief mayors were in charge of assuring order was kept in the village. They were assisted by two farmers’ commissioners, called Sotzki, and several policeman, called Desjatzki. These assistants helped the chief mayor to supervise the night watches in the Upper and the Lower Village. Krasna had a night watch, called the village watch for the Upper and Lower Village consisting of a Sotzki and several Desjatzkis.

There could not be any more details established for Krasna, but one can assume that the watch worked in a similar fashion as described in the following for Alt-Posttal: ³⁾ In the beginning night watchmen were not paid. Each family was obligated to supply a man or grown son for the night watch. People who could not or did not want to go, had the option of hiring a stand-in. Each night, there were usually 3 or 4 watchmen on duty. The watch duty badges had to be delivered the next day early in the prescribed order. In early times the mayor and his assistants used to handle the watches. The Rumanian government later hired 3 night watchmen, who were paid by the community…One of them had to be on duty at the chancellery or Primaria and answer the telephones, while the other two patrolled the Upper and Lower Village. They used whistles to communicate how far away they were from each other… In Rumanian times the night watchmen were checked on by the Primar and his associates, sometimes by the Rumanian police of Tarutino.

The Dakota Rundschau dated February 13, 1931 contains several names of the Krasna watch duty at the beginning of the 1930s.

• It reports that Johannes Kopp of Oberdorf (Upper Village) and Josef Bunikofsky of the Unterdorf (Lower Village) were elected as Sotzkis.
• It reports the names of the watchmen at the beginning of 1931. They were Alex Meer, Benedikt Tschismack and Jakob Josef Paul. Each received a monthly salary of 700 Lei.

During Russian times, the policemen, called Uriadniki, and the state official, called Pristav, had more supervisory functions, but in Rumanian times the chef de post and the chef de sectie and their police officers were directly responsible for law and order.

The village police chief and his policemen were the lowest ranking police office, responsible for one or more communities. He was supervised by the division commander of the district.
The police director supervised the district police. Krasna had a police station.
The Primar, or chief mayor, no longer had any police function.

Re: Night watches, See above under Russian Times after 1871.