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East Germany Agencies of the Ministry of the Interior
The members of the armed agencies of the Ministry of the
Interior observe military discipline and bear rank designations.
In 1987 the minister of the interior, Friedrich Dickel, for
example, was a colonel general. Dickel also was chief of the
People's Police, whose Alert Units, numbering some 12,000 troops,
were composed of 21 battalions equipped with BTR-40 and BTR-152
armored personnel carriers and 82-mm mortars. Also of military
significance are the Transport Police, with approximately 8,500
men in dark-blue uniforms who do work related to the railroad
system. They were organized into sixteen companies and equipped
with small arms and RPG-7 shoulder-fired antitank grenade
launchers.
In addition to the armed groups, the Ministry of the Interior
has other branches which control the Fire Fighters, Prison
Administration, Municipal Police, Traffic Police, Criminal
Police, Training Administrations, Passport Department, and
registration system, as well as some 135,000 volunteer police
assistants
(see
fig. 18).
Data as of July 1987
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