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The article focuses on limitations on institutional change in post-Socialist policing. The Soviet Union created a model of policing. This model of policing was exported and imposed on diverse countries. As the former socialist countries confront the communist legacy, they are trying to develop police forces and legal systems more suited to their emergent political systems. The author notes that policing in Central/Eastern Europe incorporated many of the characteristics of colonial policy, given the dominance of Russians. Under the Soviet system, little allowance was made for the vast cultural differences among the many socialist states and their different legal traditions. The future development of police forces in the successor states will depend on the type of societies that emerge in these countries. Twenty years from now, it is unlikely that these 15 countries will have similar police forces.