THE REPUBLIC OF VIETNAM NATIONAL POLICE ACADEMY
(By Colonel TRAN MINH CONG)

In July 1965, the National Police Academy (Học Viện Cảnh Sát Quốc Gia) was established to recruit university students to serve in the police force. The academy was to train more than 1,500 officers a year and was considered one of the largest police academies in Southeast Asia.

The training program at the academy lasted one year. After graduation, police officers would serve as investigators (biên tập viên) and inspectors (thẩm sát viên). Later, when the NP was militarized, these ranks were respectively changed to lieutenants and captains to be in line with military rankings, thus facilitating the coordination between the ARVN and the NP. After the 1968 Tết Offensive, the National Police grew rapidly to meet the needs of the government. From an agency dedicated to the maintenance of public order and law enforcement, the NP was now facing another war: the communist insurgency. The tasks of police became more complex and multifaceted. Police organizations as well as their training programs had to change as well, to meet the needs of the time.

Generally speaking, the training for noncommissioned officers and staff of the NP lasted from four to five months. There was a basic training center in each military region. Basic training focused on basic legal knowledge, security patrolling, and criminal investigations. After a period of service, these police officers may have been sent for additional training in specialized subjects such as judicial investigation, communications, supply, and intelligence. Since 1965, a one-year police training program was introduced, which consisted of military training for one third of the time, and specialized training for the remaining time.

The legal training program was considered the most important component of the program. About half the police officers’ training program was in this area. Knowledge of civil and criminal laws was considered to be central to the duty of an NP law enforcement officer who was required to respect the law. The rule of law must always be upheld for the sake of fairness and the trust of the people. The police in a country at war like South Vietnam must be able to take measures to monitor the population to prevent communist infiltration while respecting the freedom of the people as stipulated and allowed by the law. Measures of social monitoring and control could easily lead to abuses of power and violations of the rule of law. The pursuit, arrest, interrogation, and prosecution of communist infiltrators were prone to abuses. Due to legal constraints such as the restriction of seventy-two hours maximum for detaining citizens for investigation (unless an exception was obtained from the prosecutor office), and the ban on threatening or torturing a suspect, police officers were somewhat hampered in the investigation and prosecution of those suspected of collaborating with the enemy.

Officers of the Antiriot Police also received specialized training in military operations to destroy communist infrastructure, to detect enemy infiltrations via waterways, and to prevent the smuggling or resupplying of enemy troops. These duties were part of the responsibility to control the resources and cut off supplies to the enemy in the sanctuary areas, and to detect the transport of mines, weapons, explosives, and other means of warfare to communist troops. The search, confiscation, and detention of suspects were always subject to the rule of law and thus were difficult for those on duty.

Another specialized training was in psychological warfare, that is, how to win the hearts and minds of the people, especially those in the rural areas. In an insurgency, winning the people over is essential. While the enemy used fraudulent propaganda and threat of force to coerce people, the government did not conduct such activities. Police officers’ activities to inspect people and their vehicles in operation, to check family registries at night, and to prevent those protests led by communist agents—these activities could be easily misinterpreted by people and often condemned by Western media as violations of their human rights and freedom. The training was aimed at providing officers with knowledge and skills to act appropriately and within the law so as to minimize potentially negative impressions.