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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
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Poland
Index
Until 1990 the internal security forces of the Ministry
of
Internal Affairs, which included the Security Service
(Sluzba
Bezpieczenstwa--SB), the regular police (Milicja
Obywatelska--
MO), the riot police, and a large Citizens' Militia
Voluntary
Reserve (Ochotnicza Rezerwa Milicji Obywatelskiej--ORMO),
were
charged with preserving public order and protecting the
regime
and the PZPR. These forces were especially active during
the
martial law period of the early 1980s because the
Jaruzelski
government sought to separate regular military forces from
unpopular civilian control actions. All departments of the
internal security forces came under intense public
pressure for
abolition or reform when the first noncommunist government
was
formed in 1989.
The first stage of reform in the Ministry of Internal
Affairs
was Kiszczak's reorganization program of 1989, which was
designed
to satisfy public demands for government rather than party
control of the ministry. The reorganization sought to
avoid the
kind of frontal assault, advocated by radical reformers,
that
would bring confrontation with entrenched bureaucrats.
Kiszczak
was suspected of seeking to change his ministry's image
without
substantially reducing its power. Although the scope of
the
initial reform was quite broad and nominally separated the
Ministry of Internal Affairs from PZPR control, the
ministry also
remained beyond the control of other branches of
government.
Kiszczak, who remained minister, refused to replace any of
his
deputies with Solidarity representatives. After the
initial
reform, internal affairs departments continued covert
surveillance activity, although now with the nominal
requirement
of court approval.
Data as of October 1992
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