Talk:Volkspolizei

explanation needed

I find a few things in this article confusing:

• "Unlike Western police forces, the Volkspolizei was administered and directly subordinate to the Ministry of the Interior."

I think there is a preposition missing after the word “administered” but aside from that I am not sure what is meant by “unlike Western police forces”. Is this saying that western countries have police forces under the Ministry of Justice rather than Interior? Surely there are some western countries that place their police under the auspices of the Interior ministry?

• "Rather than the civil service status that West German police enjoyed, each Volkspolizist had a personal contract with the government"

Again, this confuses me. If they have an employment contract with the government, why are they not considered part of the civil service? Surely it just depends on what technical definition you use of "civil service". I believe that in countries like the US and the UK, you would not normally consider police officers to be "civil servants" although you could if you take a broad definition of the term "civil servant." --209.89.123.243 11:45, 17 December 2006 (UTC)

• 1st: there was no nickname "VoPo", by GDR citizens the Volkspolizei were called "VP", "Bullen (Cops)" or even "die Grünen" (the green guys, according to the green police uniform); the name "VoPo" was created by a West German newspaper (BILD-Zeitung),
• 2nd: western police units are also administered by the Ministry of Interior,
• 3rd: there is no known case that a perp escaped cause the GDR CID had to go through bureaucratic procedures instead of investigation,
• 4th: there was no guarantee of an apartment in a nice suburb and there were no "special shops" for officers and their families
• 5th: what is a frequent attendance of communist meetings?
• 6th: the Volkspolizei had to act according to the GDR Police Law (Gesetz über die Aufgaben und Befugnisse der Deutschen Volkspolizei)and to the Criminal Procedure Code (Strafprozessordnung)
• 7th: ruthless in the meaning of: every CID officer was forced to give a reasonable report if he was not able to solve a case within three months?
• 8th: the lower crime rate was also based on the fact that the GDR average joe had no sympathy for criminal activities and it was well known that every offense would bee intensive investigated,
• 9th: german police units were also founded by the western allies right after the WWII; proved by history not with the same kind of personnel, btw. was the occupation of Germany or the establishment of police forces a violation of the Potsdam Conference?
• 10th: non Volkspolizei officer was allowed to do a search&seizure without a warrant; the story about the shocked officers is an urban legend,
• 11th: well the social stigma is a nearly 10% pay cut from the average officer salary for the same work as in West Germany

I`ll add some real sources and also a more detailed description of the Volkspolizei within the next weeks. Hope that´s okay.

translation of oath

the current translated version of the official oath is based on the automatic translation tool of a well-known search engine, and hence of truly poor quality. Improvement is definitely needed in that paragraph. 87.123.220.84 21:45, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

Vandalism of User:Wiggy!

• He vandalised the section beginning from 1948/1953:

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Volkspolizei&diff=cur&oldid=169959031 —Preceding unsigned comment added by 141.30.241.23 (talk) 13:58, 28 November 2007 (UTC)

This needs Changed

"an East German needed to have at least a tenth grade education"

That's an American standard and system that is meaningless to the vast majority of the planet. Please amend this to reflect a global comprehension and standard.