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of the law enforcement system. A shift in emphasis is likely to occur, however, as the regime becomes more confident about its legitimacy and acceptance by a majority of the citizenry; in addition, as the economy becomes more consumer-oriented and the acquisition of goods and property becomes the objective of growing numbers of citizens, there is likely to be a rising incidence of crimes which Communist regimes have always insisted flourish only in capitalist societies, such as robbery, theft, and burglary. In later 1971 the attorney general claimed that crimes against property accounted for more than 50% of all criminal offenses.
All police and security organizations, as well as the courts, are under the direct control of the SED. The inner circle of SED leaders charged with formulating security and penal policy are members of the Central Committee Security Commission, leaded by Paul Verner. Actual day-to-day policy and administrative decisions are worked out by the Central Committee Security Department.
On the governmental level, the Ministry of Interior is the organization primarily responsible for controlling the population and combating crime. The ministry has at its disposal, directly or through its 15 district headquarters, not only regular civil police but also the Alert Police, which are militarized security units trained for riot control, and personnel of the Civil Air Defense Command. It reportedly controls about 100,000 full-time armed police and security personnel. The higher echelons are composed for the most part of trusted SED members, and there is a significant number of SED members and sympathizers in the lower ranks.
Directly subordinate to the ministry is the Main Administration of German People's Police (HVDVP), which exercises day-to-day control over the major police functions and operations. The HVDVP has at its disposal several operational civil police organizations totaling some 89,000 personnel, including:
- Regular Police
- Water Police
- Traffic Police
- Factory Guards
- Prison Guards
- Criminal Police
- Transport Police
The HVDVP also exerts control, through district SED headquarters, over the approximately 11,000 heavily armed Alert Police. Several of the operational police organizations, notably the Criminal Police, coordinate their operations with the Ministry for State Security.
The Ministry of Interior also directs the Main Department for Passports and Registration, which acts as a central file for information on East German citizens. Through coordination between the record offices of the Ministries of Interior and State Security supplemented by local police files, a careful records is kept on nearly every aspect of the life of an individual citizen. In the case of SED members, this information is supplemented by local and SED Central Committee cadre records.
Various other organizations exercise supplemental police and internal security functions. These include the SED-controlled Workers Militia with 350,000 members available for duty during civil disturbances, and the army's Frontier Command, which has 49,500 men engaged in border control. The secret police organization, the State Security Service (SSD), which is subordinate to the Ministry for State Security, has responsibility for certain aspects of domestic security and counterintelligence (counterespionage and counter-subversion). It includes a 3,500-man Security Guard Regiment. In all, the active members of both police and security forces (uniformed and plainclothes) probably total about 500,000 - or about 3% of the population. To supplement the large police and security forces, the regime has also attempted to organize an extensive network of informers, particularly in regions bordering on West Germany. Although some people, usually SED or FDJ members, willingly act as police informers, most recruits for this task must be coerced into service.
The police maintain a complex and extensive system of checks and controls over the population. In addition to the usual regulation of firearms and ammunition, fire and health hazards, and dangerous chemicals and drugs, the police have established controls over individuals, their associations, and their movements. Each citizen over 14 years of age, for instance, must carry a personal identity card (Personalausweis) which bears his picture; a copy of this picture is kept on record by the police. Every employed person is required to carry a work and insurance certificate which contains a complete record of his employment history. The police also maintain surveillance of population movements through a general registration system which requires every person to notify the police of any change of residence, including temporary visits exceeding 3 days. Both the population registers and the identity card system are administered by the regular police. Neither uses fingerprints for purposes of identification. To identify
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