APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2009/06/16: CIA-RDP01-00707R000200110010-2
counterintelligence, and countersubversive apparatus is subordinate to the Ministry of Interior.
Since 1948 the security apparatus has served as an efficient instrument of protection for party and state interests. The misuse of police power reached its peak during the bloody purge trials from 1949 to 1954. Between 1963, when liberalization began, and early 1968, when Dubcek came to power, there was a shift in emphasis within the security system; it gradually became somewhat less of a conscious instrument of terror and concentrated on more subtle techniques such as the exercise of censorship and intelligence collection.
The Dubcek leadership initiated a reorganization of the police and intelligence services designed to bring their activities under closer scrutiny of parliamentary and executive organs. Their "freewheeling" actions under old-line conservatives were terminated and their responsiveness to party policies was insured. It was hoped that these changes, which also emphasized decentralization within the services, would afford greater protection for Czechoslovak citizens from the capriciousness of police officials.
The present structure of the security apparatus dates from about June 1969, when the Husak regime reversed some of the decentralizing measures adopted under Dubcek, and took other steps to insure the improved morale, loyalty, and effectiveness of the services.
The domestic police apparently underwent few organizational changes in the shuffle of June 1969, although their official name seems to have been changed from the Public Security Police to the Civil Police. The Main Directorate of Civil Police is a division of the Ministry of Interior. An Inspector General's office was established in 1969 as a police review board, presumably to guard against a resurgence of an overpowerful Ministry of Interior as existed under Novotny. The Main Directorate of Civil Police consists of 13 regional directorates which, in turn, are subdivided administratively into district and municipal branches. An extra police regiment responsible for urban security was organized in September 1970. The four largest cities, Prague, Bratislava, Brno, and Ostrava, have their own separate citywide police organizations.
The Civil Police, whose functions are similar to the municipal police in the West, are responsible for normal maintenance of public order and safety, including traffic control, firefighting, civil defense, and guarding prisons. There are thought to be over 30,000 Civil Police in the country. Normally, the police are armed with sidearms, and patrol in pairs whether on foot or in automobiles. In case of riot or other emergencies, the police can be equipped with helmets, truncheons, submachine guns, and patrol in armored vehicles. Tear gas is employed in riot control. Maintenance of public order and the security of railroad installations are responsibilities of the Public Security for railroads.
As a rule, the special internal security organs have had precedence over the regular police forces. The secret police, or State Security Police (StB), has traditionally functioned under specialized directorates of the Ministry of Interior and has been in charge of the political surveillance of the population and of foreigners visiting or residing in Czechoslovakia. The official use of the term StB was abolished in 1953, but the designation is still widely used by the public. The regular and special police units are at the disposal of several directorates in charge of StB operations. Political crimes, whether border crossings, economic sabotage, espionage, or conspiracy against the state, are immediately investigated either wholly or at one or another stage by the StB.
The uniformed and well-organized Frontier Guard (PS) has a primary mission of controlling the Czechoslovak borders with West Germany and Austria. The Frontier Guard is subordinate to the Ministry of Interior and is organized along military lines; it includes a small Danube Defense Guard that patrols the Danube river boundary with Austria and Hungary (Figure 13). The Frontier Guard is supported logistically by the Czechoslovak Army, which provides it with armored personnel carriers, other transport vehicles, and small arms of modern design. In patrolling the borders, the Frontier Guard makes extensive use of dog teams, wire barriers, watch towers, and patrols. The Frontier Guard operates border crossing points and is responsible for checking passports and vehicles.
The People's Militia, which sprung to life and played a major intimidating role in the 1948 Communist coup, remains an armed auxiliary of the Communist Party which is trained in military tactics for internal security duties as well as civil defense functions. People's Militia units consist exclusively of party members and are located at key plants and installations. Under Husak, the People's Militia has been enlarged and given the statutory authority to act as auxiliary police. To make its "private army" status even more complete, the Communist Party statutes were amended at the May 1971 Party Congress to include a provision formally confirming the direct subordination of the People's Militia to the central party organs.
42
APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2009/06/16: CIA-RDP01-00707R000200110010-2
