The (FPR; Voluntary Police Reserve) was an

auxiliary police Auxiliary police, also called volunteer police, reserve police, assistant police, civil guards, or special police, are usually the part-time reserves of a regular police force. They may be unpaid volunteers or paid members of the police servic ...

service of the

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

state of

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

. It was founded on 25 May 1961 as reaction to the emerging

Combat Groups of the Working Class The Combat Groups of the Working Class (, KdA) was a paramilitary organization in the German Democratic Republic (GDR) from 1953 to 1989. The KdA served as the '' de facto'' militia of the ruling Socialist Unity Party of Germany composed of party ...

and should originally help out the

Berlin Police The Berlin Police (; formerly , ) is the force for the city-state of Berlin, Germany. Law enforcement in Germany is divided between federal and state () agencies. The Berlin Police is headed by the ('Chief of Police'), Dr. Barbara Slowik. ...

in riots and to defend

West Berlin West Berlin ( or , ) was a political enclave which comprised the western part of Berlin from 1948 until 1990, during the Cold War. Although West Berlin lacked any sovereignty and was under military occupation until German reunification in 1 ...

in case of an attack (urban warfare and object protection). For this purpose, the police reservists were trained in the use of

small arms A firearm is any type of gun that uses an explosive charge and is designed to be readily carried and operated by an individual. The term is legally defined further in different countries (see legal definitions). The first firearms originate ...

. In the last years of its existence, many neo-Nazis felt attracted due to the intensive firearm training and became members of the force, arousing criticism of the media: In 1993, an examination showed that around 500 of the 2500 members either had a criminal record or were affiliated with neo-Nazi groups. In 1999, the auxiliary police force was renamed to '' Freiwilliger Polizeidienst (FPD)'' and shut down in 2002 for financial reasons.CDU will Bürgerwehr in Berlin wieder einführen vom 28 Februar 2011, retrieved, 22 May 2013
/ref>

References

{{Reflist Defunct law enforcement agencies of Germany Government agencies established in 1961 Government agencies disestablished in 2002

See also

References