Republic of Vietnam River and Coastal Police

The River and Coastal Police, also variously designated as Marine Police and ‘Police Nautique’ or ‘Police Fluviale et Côtière’ in French, was the ‘naval’ branch of the Republic of Vietnam National Police (Vietnamese: Cãnh Sát Quốc Gia – CSQG), active from 1965 to 1975.

History

The Marine Police was officially established in 1965 to provide a waterborne law-enforcement capability to assist the CSQG in countering Vietcong (VC) activity on the more than 3,000 miles of navigable inland waterways. This effort was directed primarily at the Mekong Delta area. The Marine Police had responsibility for control and maintenance of security on navigable waterways and sea ports in the Republic of Vietnam, the support of resources control, the enforcement of civil and maritime law, and assistance in other police activities.

Structure

Headquartered at Phu Xuan, near Hué in Thùa Thiên Province, the Marine Police had an initial strength of 350 men, who operated 100 river patrol boats from three bases in the Mekong delta and patrolled 40 miles of waterways by late 1966. In 1969 the Marine Police was placed under the control of the Field Police (Vietnamese: Cãnh Sát Dã Chiên – CSDC) Command co-located to the CSQG Headquarters at Saigon.^[1] By 1970-71, it had grown to a force of 2,404 men operating from 22 riverine and coastal bases located in all of the four Military Regions, patrolling 440 miles of waterways and the sea coast in 380 river and inshore patrol craft. Boat crews were trained at the Marine Police Training Centre co-located at their Phu Xuan HQ, which also housed the Police repair yard.^[2]

See also

• Brown Water Navy
• First Indochina War
• Republic of Vietnam
• Republic of Vietnam Military Forces
• Vietnam War
• Weapons of the Vietnam War

Notes

1. Tarrius, La Police de Campagne du Sud-Vietnam 1967-1975 (2005), pp. 38-39.
2. Sir Robert Thompson et al, Report on the Republic of Vietnam National Police, (1971), Appendix H, p. 1.

References

• Sir Robert Thompson et al., Report on the Republic of Vietnam National Police, 1971. [available online at http://www.counterinsurgency.org/1971%20Thompson%20Police/Thompson%20Police.htm]
• Valéry Tarrius, La Police de Campagne du Sud-Vietnam 1967-1975, in Armes Militaria Magazine, March 2005 issue, Histoire & Collections, Paris, pp. 37–43. (in French)

External links

• Federation of South Vietnam Police Associations
• The "White Mice" of Vietnam
• RVN National Police at globalsecurity.org
• http://www.militaria-mag.com
• http://camopedia.org/index.php?title=Republic_of_Vietnam
• http://www.polinsignia.com/vietnam.htm