After the October
Revolution of 1917, the Bolsheviks dissolved the old police and sought the
creation of Workers and Peasants' Militia under the supervision of the
NKVD of the RSFSR.
However, the NKVD
apparatus was overwhelmed by functions inherited directly from the Imperial MVD,
such as the supervision of the local governments and firefighting, and the new
proletarian workforce was largely inexperienced.
Thousands
of staff are being trained to police the smoking ban in bars, restaurants and
shops in
More
effort will be put into catching smokers than looking for burglars, muggers, thieves
and robbers, and it will all be based on targets, so will be self financing,
and will grow year on year.
Ministers
have given councils £29.5m to pay for staff, who will be able to give
on-the-spot £50 fines to individuals and take court action against premises.
They
will have the power to enter premises undercover, allowing them to sit among
drinkers, and will even be able to photograph and film people.
The
smoking ban is due to come into force on 1 July. It covers virtually all
enclosed public places including offices, factories, pubs and bars. But neither
outdoor space nor private homes will be affected.
Business
owners also have a duty to ensure their customers comply - they are liable for
£200 fines if proper signs are not displayed and, potentially, fines of £2,500
if they refuse to enforce the ban.
Local
authorities have been given the power to enforce the ban so it does not consume
police time.
A
government-funded course is expected to train 1,200 council officers in the
next few months with more expected to follow later.
The Nature of a Secret Police
Enforcement of
the law has required, in nearly all societies, a certain amount of secrecy,
particularly in the investigation of crime and the identification of what are
often considered conspiracies.
The emergence of
a uniformed, clearly recognizable police force is of much more recent origin
than secret bodies formed by governments for their protection from internal and
external attack.
In its wider
meaning, the term secret police embraces all those members of any police
force that operate, often out of uniform, without giving warning to the
suspected criminal.
Some countries
have laws limiting the role of such secret police to investigation only, giving
the indicted offender the right to an open trial and complete access to the
evidence.
Wherever these
interrelated conditions are not fulfilled, a secret police in the narrower
sense of the term either exists or is in process of developing.
This secret
police is a body officially or in fact endowed with authority superior to other
law-enforcing agencies. It investigates, apprehends, and sometimes even judges
the suspect in secrecy, and is often accountable only to the executive branch
of the government.
In extreme cases
such a secret police force may even have its own courts and prisons, and its
activities are kept secret not only from the mass of the population but also
from the legislative, judiciary, and executive authorities of the state, except
at the topmost level.
The institution
of a secret police has existed in most societies where a minority has exercised
an uneasy rule over a majority.
In ancient
In
Among the
earliest secret police forces organized along modern lines were the Venetian
Inquisition and the Oprichina of Czar Ivan IV of
Two 20th-century
examples, that of
The institution
has reached its most menacing aspect in the modern state—largely because of the improved technology at its disposal.
In a free
society, the rights and laws protect the individual from the government.
In a dictatorship, the rights and laws protect the government from the
people.
