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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
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Poland
Index
The ZOMO motorized riot troops, which played the most
visible
role in quelling demonstrations in 1980 and 1981, were
reduced in
size somewhat by the early 1990s and renamed Preventive
Units of
the Citizens' Militia (Oddzialy Prewencji Milicji
Obywatelskiej--
OPMO). OPMO forces are restricted to roles such as crowd
control
at sporting events, ensuring safety in natural disasters,
and
assisting the regular police. In theory, higher government
authority would be required for large OPMO contingents to
be
used.
From the 1960s through the 1980s, ORMO forces, which at
one
time numbered as many as 600,000 civilian volunteers, were
used
to augment regular police personnel at key trouble spots.
In the
early 1980s, ORMO harassed Solidarity members and
prevented
independent groups from organizing. Largely staffed by
industrial
workers who gained substantial privileges by monitoring
their
peers in the workplace, ORMO was the object of extreme
resentment
throughout the 1980s. Kiszczak attempted to promote ORMO
as a
valuable auxiliary police force, but the organization was
abolished by the Sejm in 1990.
The Kiszczak reforms failed to reassure the public that
the
security agencies now were acting in the public interest.
However, the collapse of the PZPR in 1990 made possible
the
ouster of Kiszczak and faster reduction of the autonomy of
the
security agencies. Kiszczak's successor, a journalist, put
the
Ministry of Internal Affairs under a civilian for the
first time
since martial law was declared.
Data as of October 1992
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