This article examines the regional characteristics of political surveillance in the Russian Empire through the example of the Vladivostok Security Section, which escaped abolition during the 1913–1914 reform of the political police initiated by Vladimir F. Dzhunkovsky. The Vladivostok Security Section represents what may be termed an «exceptional normal case,» illustrating both the empire-wide features and the distinctive regional characteristics of the imperial political police. The study combines an analysis of the organizational structure and operations of the Vladivostok Security Section as a state institution with a prosopographical examination of the officers of the Separate Corps of Gendarmes who served there. This combined approach makes it possible to reconstruct the day-to-day functioning of the political police and to assess the effectiveness of its operations. Throughout 1913–1914, officers and personnel of the Vladivostok Security Section maintained a high standard of political policing within the Priamur Governor-Generalship, contributing to the relatively low level of revolutionary activity in the region. This effectiveness was achieved through an extensive network of informants operating not only in Vladivostok and other cities of the governor-generalship but also in nearby foreign cities with substantial Russian émigré communities, including Nagasaki and Shanghai. The professionalism of the Section’s personnel played a decisive role in this success. Its staff included experienced officers with prior service in political investigations as well as younger gendarmes eager to pursue careers in investigative work. Despite bureaucratic tensions and personnel shortages, the Vladivostok Security Section operated effectively, exemplifying the principal features of political surveillance throughout the Russian Empire.