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Albania
INTERNAL SECURITY
During the period
of uninterrupted communist rule from 1944 to 1991, the pervasiveness
of repression made it difficult for information on internal developments
in Albania to reach the outside world. It was the most closed
and isolated society in Europe. The few Western observers who
visited the country after World War II were not in a position
to see or to judge its internal conditions independently, but
statements by rare foreign visitors concerning the police-state
atmosphere in the country indicated that public order was rigidly
maintained. It was impossible for visitors to move around the
country without escorts, and conversation or interaction with
ordinary citizens was inhibited. Local police and internal security
forces were in evidence everywhere. Albanian sources published
little concerning the internal security situation, and reliable
information was lacking beyond infrequent officially approved
statements and data that generally covered political crimes deemed
threatening to the party or state. However, this situation began
to change drastically in 1991, in part because of the efforts
of the Albanian Democratic Party, which advocated restructuring
the security organs and purging officials who had repressed the
population under Hoxha and Alia. In early 1992, officials responsible
for preventing or investigating crime were disorganized as a result
of political changes in the country and were unsure how to operate
effectively. Organizational change in the police and security
forces, initiated by the communistdominated coalition government,
also inhibited their effectiveness at least for a time.
Data as of April 1992
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