Auxiliary Security Forces

Various governmental and public organizations assisted the regular law-enforcement agencies in keeping order. Public brigades had been organized as auxiliaries to help the militia in crime detection and prevention, in gathering evidence, in observing public gatherings, in finding stolen goods, and in tracking escaped criminals. In addition, there were mass social organizations, including block and district committees, and parents' committees in schools. These citizens' groups were used to help fight such crimes as murder, burglary, theft, and arson. They also could function as deputies or special police, as the occasion demanded. In addition, there were administrative committees, special police courts, committees of public-spirited citizens to deal with juvenile delinquents, and anticrime commissions in the larger cities and towns.

The most important of these bodies were the Crime Fighting and Crime Prevention Councils, which were voluntary and informal party organizations operating without paid staffs at all levels of the party-government structure. These councils were strictly advisory bodies, and they had no authority to replace judicial or law-enforcement agencies in any way. Their function was to discuss in general terms the problems of crime and how best to combat it.