Cambodia
| Author | George Kurian |
| Pages | 259-260 |
Page 259
Official country name: Kingdom of Cambodia
Capital: Phnom Penh
Geographic description: Southeast Asian country bordering on the Gulf of Thailand
Population: 14,500,000 (est. 2005)
The history of Cambodia's legal system is one of the most varied in the world. Until the Communist and later Vietnamese takeover, law enforcement was the responsibility of the Royal Khmer Police under the authority of a secretary of state in the Ministry of the Interior. It was a loosely centralized force that included the National Police, patterned after the French Süreté; the municipal police in Phnom Penh; rural town police; and the paramilitary Surface Defense Force—a constabulary composed of the Provincial Guard and the Chivapul, a local volunteer militia. The police were reorganized in May 1970 when most of its component elements were transferred to the army. After the imposition of martial law in 1970, the provost marshal and the military police handled the general maintenance of law and order, including traffic control. The National Police continued to act as a bureau of investigation and surveillance under a central commissariat. Under Pol Pot, the police name was changed to People's Militia. The National Police was restored to its former status after the restoration of constitutional monarchy in the late 1990s. In 1998 Cambodia's security consisted of (1) the Royal Cambodian Armed forces, (2) the National Police, and (3) the gendarmerie.
The National Police is administered by a general directorate subordinate to the Ministry of the Interior. Details of its deployment and organization are not known. The national headquarters contains five main sections:
Criminal
Economic
Immigration
Administrative
Special Police
The Municipal Police in Phnom Penh, with ten precincts under a commissariat, have additional responsibilities, including covert operations and the security of government installations and officials.
Total Police Personnel: 6,308
Population per Police Officer: 1,980
Page 260
The government's record in the area of human rights is mixed. The police and the military engage in political and nonpolitical killings and are rarely prosecuted. Torture...
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