They were led by career police professionals, steeped in the ideology of Nazism and driven by anti-semitism and anti-Bolshevism.[4] The regiment was placed under the command of Hermann Franz, a career policeman who had previously served in the Order Police in the occupied Poland.[5] When the regiment crossed the German-Soviet border, it came under the control of Friedrich Jeckeln, the Higher SS and Police Leader (HSS-PF) for Army Group South in Ukraine.[5]