Extracts from: http://www.jewishgen.org/yizkor/Bender/ben029.html:
There were two outstanding Jews who worked for the Tsarist government. They formed an integral part of Bendery. The first was policeman Kahanovitch. In spite of being a Jew he was chosen for his position because he had served in the Nikolayev army (those who were taken into the army during the reign of Nikolai I). He spoke an excellent Russian and his Yiddish was Russian-accented. He stood out with his big beard, trousers tucked into boots and his sword on his side. He wore a uniform and would stride quickly holding a briefcase under his arm. His job in the police was to distribute proclamations to the residents. Sometimes he stood guard at the entrance to the Balanovy theatre and other times at the door of the Auditorium when plays were staged there.
The second person was Yaakov Liev who served as a Jewish government clerk. He did the weighing at the old train station and worked for the railroad. He wore a uniform including a hat with a visor. He was a quiet man, polite, easy-going, religious and well-respected. I do not know how he obtained this position. He gave his children a Jewish education as well as a secular one. One of his sons was a pioneer in Eretz Israel in the Third Aliyah. When the Romanians came to Bessarabia he left his job and went with some of his family to Eretz Israel. His daughter was married there as well as the son who preceded him. His wife came from a respectable family in our town. (Other families from our town who joined in the Third Aliyah are discussed further on.)