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Parapolice are law enforcement officers or intelligence agents considered "beyond", "ancillary" or "subsidiary" to the regular police force. The term has been used in criminology to refer to private security with an explicit relationship to public police forces.
Parapolice organizations are generally considered legally sanctioned bodies acting either beyond or in addition to the duties and responsibilities normally attributed to the public or state police. Parapolice organizations, therefore, can include all private security companies, Auxiliary police or special police services, or other legal albeit politically motivated intimidation squads acting either at the behest or with the acquiescence of government and/or .G. Rigakos, “Hyperpanoptics as Commodity: The Case of the Parapolice” (1999) 24:3 Canadian Journal of Sociology at 388–389.
In southern, developing, and divided societies, parapolice have become synonymous with politically motivated intimidation squads. In some countries, like China, the parapolice are a state-organized policing agency charged with enforcing and other commercial regulations. They have been accused of intimidating and harassing unlicensed vendors, engaging in running street battles with local residents and and even beating to death a man for taking images of a clash between villagers and the parapolice. In Brazil, Amnesty International has criticized the role of the parapolice, locally known as "milicia", for Kidnapping, intimidation, torture and "wielding political power by guaranteeing, through intimidation, votes for certain state deputies". In Venezuela, parapolice have been blamed for the ‘social cleansing’ of poor men in the state of Portuguesa. The People’s Ombudsman reports that the parapolice are responsible for the killing of 402 people between 2001 and 2004. In Latin America, in particular, parapolice are synonymous with paramilitary vigilantism and political .
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