Royal Lao Police


The Royal Lao Police, was the official national police force of the Kingdom of Laos from 1949 to 1975, operating closely with the Royal Lao Armed Forces during the Laotian Civil War between 1960 and 1975.

History

The Royal Lao Police was first established in 1949 by the French Union authorities.

Structure

The Laotian security forces were divided into several 'branches of service', which comprised a plainclothes criminal investigation department, an immigration service, an urban constabulary, a regional gendarmerie and an counter-insurgency armed support unit. All these formations were answerable to the Laotian Ministry of the Interior of the Royal Lao Government in Vientiane.

Constabulary

The regular Laotian Police branch, this was the uniformed urban constabulary – also designated Civil Police, Civil Police Force or National Police Corps – tasked of providing security and maintaining law and order in the main population centers, including the nation's capital city and the provincial capitals.

Gendarmerie

Successor of the French colonial 'Indigenous Guard', the paramilitary Laotian Gendarmerie was tasked of patrolling the countryside.

Directorate of National Coordination/Frontier Police

One particular ephemeral 'branch' of the Laotian security forces that is worth mention is the Directorate of National Coordination or DNC paramilitary Security Agency. The DNC begun as a airborne-qualified paramilitary élite police field force closely modelled after the Royal Thai Police Police Aerial Resupply Unit 'Commandos' and similar in function to the Republic of Vietnam National Police Field Force. The unit had its origins in September 1960, when the PRL command entrusted the then Lieutenant colonel Siho Lamphouthacoul the creation of a 'Special Mobile Group' composed of two paramilitary special battalions, 11th and 33rd BS.
The new unit soon became involved in Laos' domestic politics during the turbulent period of the early 1960s, with its commander Lt. Col. Siho actively conspiring in Major general Phoumi Nosavan's return to power. Between mid-November and late December 1960, GMS 1 paramilitary battalions participated in the retaking of Vientiane from Captain Kong Le's rebel Neutralist airborne units, including the successful capture of the Laotian Aviation military runway at Wattay Airfield.
For his actions in support of his patron Major general Phoumi Nosavan's December 1960 countercoup, Lt. Col. Siho was rewarded with a promotion to Brigadier general and given command of a new paramilitary security organization: in March 1961 the GMS 1 was combined with Laotian National Army or ANL and PRL units to form the DNC.
Answering only to Maj. Gen. Phoumi, Brig. Gen. Siho and its new security agency quickly took over police duties in Vientiane, exercising near absolute authority in the capital city and began screening the civilian population for Pathet Lao elements and stragglers, which often led to abuses. Brig. Gen. Siho's actions cost funding from the U.S. for police training; however, his GMS 1 was considered the most effective paramilitary unit in the Royal Lao Armed Forces.
Although originally intended to be used in intelligence-gathering and Commando operations, the GMS was primarily kept in Vientiane to support Siho's illicit activities. In reality, the GMS served principally as Siho's personal bodyguard, gaining a reputation among the civilian populace for both corruption in police duties and military ability as para-commandos. One source refers to them as "gangsters" involved in prostitution, gambling, extortion, sabotage, kidnapping, torture, and political repression.
In 1962 a 30-man contingent was sent to Thailand to attend Airborne and Commando courses manned by Royal Thai Police instructors from the Police Aerial Resupply Unit at their Camp Narusuan training facilities located near Hua Hin in Prachuap Khiri Khan Province. Upon their return to Laos, they formed the cadre of a new special battalion, 99 BS, which enabled GMS 1 to attain full regimental strength. A DNC training depot and an airborne course were established at Phone Kheng in Vientiane, where 11, 33, and 99 BS were all given parachute training. In 1963 Brig. Gen. Siho appointed Lieutenant colonel Thao Ty as his replacement at the head of the GMS 1 para-commando regiment, while retaining the command of the DNC.
On 18 April 1964, Brig. Gen. Siho staged a coup d'état, during which his DNC police units seized the capital's public infrastructure and took control of the country. However, the coup was short-lived, as Brig. Gen. Siho received international criticism and was quickly outranked by Major general Kouprasith Abhay, who succeeded in being nominated Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Royal Lao Army, whilst his ally Major general Ouane Rattikone became the Commander-in-Chief. In response, Siho changed the GMS 1 designation to 'Border Police' or 'Frontier Police', and kept a low profile.
On 1–3 February 1965, the DNC which had held de facto control over Vientiane during the previous year, was defeated and disbanded by the RLA in the wake of another coup d'état led by Maj. Gen. Kouprasith Abhay held that same month. Brig. Gen. Siho was forced to exile in Thailand and his DNC 'empire' was quickly divided, with its units being disbanded: the military intelligence, psychological warfare, and military police personnel were returned to the RLA structure whilst some of the policemen were kept in service and renamed the National Police Corps, which was assigned to the Ministry of the Interior of the Royal Lao Government. After two days of negotiations, the DNC's three airborne-qualified Border Police Special Battalions – BS 33, BS 11, and BS 99 – and their commander, Lieutenant colonel Thao Ty agreed to lay down their arms with the option of transferring to the RLA's airborne forces command. By mid-year they had been moved to Seno, near Savannakhet and consolidated into a new parachute regiment, Airborne Mobile Group 21 under Thao Ty's command.

Training institutions

Police training was the responsibility of the PRL Police School, built by the United States Programs Evaluation Office in the early 1960s at Ban Donnoun, located 10 kilometers east of Vientiane, where U.S. instructors taught Laotian cadres basic police procedures. In addition, selected PRL personnel were also sent to France, Thailand and the United States to attend specialized courses.

List of DNC and PRL commanders

Royal Lao Police ranks