Forces and Agencies
Governmental responsibility for internal security will generally rest with an interior ministry, as opposed to a defence ministry. Depending on the state, a state's internal security will be maintained by either the ordinary police or law enforcement agencies or more militarised police forces (known as Gendarmerie). Other specialised internal security agencies may exist to augment these main forces, such as border guards, special police units, or aspects of the state's List of intelligence agencies. In some states, internal security may be the primary responsibility of a secret police force.
The level of authorised force used by agencies and forces responsible for maintaining internal security might range from unarmed police to fully armed paramilitary organisations, or employ some level of less-lethal weaponry in between. For violent situations, internal security forces may contain some element of military type equipment such as non-military armored vehicles.
Read more about this topic: Internal Security
Famous quotes containing the words forces and/or agencies:
“If in the opinion of the Tsars authors were to be the servants of the state, in the opinion of the radical critics writers were to be the servants of the masses. The two lines of thought were bound to meet and join forces when at last, in our times, a new kind of regime the synthesis of a Hegelian triad, combined the idea of the masses with the idea of the state.”
—Vladimir Nabokov (1899–1977)
“While it is generally agreed that the visible expressions and agencies are necessary instruments, civilization seems to depend far more fundamentally upon the moral and intellectual qualities of human beings—upon the spirit that animates mankind.”
—Mary Ritter Beard (1876–1958)