The PRL traced back its origins to the immediate aftermath of
World War II, when the Laotian Gendarmerie was established by the
French Union authorities in
May 1946 under the designation
Lao National Guard (
French:
Garde Nationale Laotiènne – GNL), to replace the local sections of the mainly
Vietnamese Indochinese Guard (
French:
Garde Indochinoise), first established in 1895 as the 'Indigenous Guard' (
French:
Garde Indigène). Although the new GNL was to be exclusively composed by Laotian nationals, it was kept under the close supervision of
French gendarmes seconded from the Republican Guard units stationed in
Indochina. In 1947, with a strength of 1,000 men, the GNL changed its designation to
Laotian Gendarmerie (
French:
Gendarmerie Laotiènne;
Lao:
Kong Truat Lao), and despite being officially subordinated to the Laotian Ministry of the Interior and placed that same year under the nominal command of King
Sisavang Vong, the gendarmerie remained in fact under French control. The new Lao Gendarmerie was charged with safeguarding internal security and public order, with a planned strength of 1,250 officers and enlisted men, though the actual number was lower. By the end of 1955 it had only 540 men,
Formation of the Laotian National Police 1955–1960 In
September 1955, an American aid package, titled the Public Safety Program, provided for the merger of all the Laotian security forces into the
Laotian National Police (
French:
Police Nationale Laotiènne – PNL;
Lao:
Tamrousat). Ordered by King
Sisavang Vong on
November 1955, the merger did not became effective until several months later when two royal ordinances dated January 17, 1957, retrospectively, declared that the process to have taken place earlier on January 1, 1956. When Maj. Gen. Phoumi was deposed by Captain
Kong Le's
coup in August 1960, it seems not to have curtailed Lt. Col. Siho's power nor the growth of his Directorate of National Coordination. In September of that year, he raised and trained to
paramilitary standards two special
counter-insurgency battalions (
French:
Bataillons Speciales – BS) within the PNL, designated 11th and 33rd BS respectively, which were gathered into an incomplete regiment designated 1st Special Mobile Group (
French:
Groupement Mobile Speciale 1 – GMS 1). The new PNL counter-insurgency unit was closely modelled after the
Royal Thai Police (RTP)
Police Aerial Reinforcement Unit (PARU) 'Commandos' and was similar in function to the later
Republic of Vietnam National Police Field Force. The GMS 1 soon became involved in Laos' domestic politics during the turbulent period of the early 1960s, with its commander Lt. Col. Siho actively conspiring in Maj. Gen. Phoumi's return to power. Between mid-November and late December 1960, GMS 1 paramilitary battalions participated in the
retaking of Vientiane from Captain
Kong Le's
rebel Neutralist airborne units, including the successful capture of the
Laotian Aviation (
French:
Aviation Laotiènne) military runway at
Wattay Airfield. When Kong Le and his rebel paratroopers withdrew from Vientiane after Phoumi's coup succeeded, one of the prisoners they took with them was the head of the National Police. For his actions in support of his patron Maj. Gen. Phoumi's
December 1960 countercoup, Lt. Col. Siho was rewarded with a promotion to
Brigadier general and given command of a new paramilitary security organization comprising the police forces of Laos, civil and military, together with the security and information services responsible for propaganda and political action. In
March 1961 Siho combined his GMS 1 with
Laotian National Army or ANL (
military intelligence,
psychological warfare, and
military police units) and PNL (the civil police force and the immigration service) units to form the
Directorate of National Coordination or
DNC (
French:
Direction de Coordination Nationale – DCN) paramilitary Security Agency, which was quickly assigned to the Ministry of Defense. Brig. Gen. Siho's actions cost funding from the U.S. for police training; however, his GMS 1 was considered the most effective paramilitary unit in the
Royal Lao Armed Forces (
French:
Forces Armées du Royaume – FAR). Although originally intended to be used in
intelligence-gathering and
Commando operations, the GMS was primarily kept in Vientiane to support Siho's illicit activities. In reality, the GMS served principally as Siho's private army, gaining a reputation among the civilian populace for both corruption in police duties and military ability as para-commandos. One source refers to them as "gangsters" involved in prostitution, gambling, extortion, sabotage, kidnapping, torture, assassination and political repression. Siho staffed the DNC with his own non-professional personnel, transferred from the Laotian Army. Many of the senior professional Police officials were transferred or found places in the Army and other government slots. A number of illiterate and otherwise unqualified personnel were allowed to join the PNL over the next four years operation under the DNC; these included 600 supporters (the majority illiterate) of Maj. Gen. Phoumi that were added to the force in
Savannakhet. In 1962 a 30-man contingent was sent to
Thailand to attend
Airborne and
Commando courses manned by
Royal Thai Police (RTP) instructors from the
Police Aerial Reinforcement Unit (PARU) at their Camp Narusuan training facilities located near
Hua Hin in
Prachuap Khiri Khan Province. In 1963 Brig. Gen. Siho appointed
Lieutenant colonel Thao Ty as his replacement at the head of the GMS 1 para-commando regiment, while retaining the command of the DNC. On 18 April 1964, Brig. Gen. Siho staged a
coup d'état, during which his DNC police units seized the capital's public infrastructure and took control of the country. However, the coup was short-lived, as Brig. Gen. Siho received international criticism and was quickly outranked by Major general
Kouprasith Abhay, who succeeded in being nominated Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the
Royal Lao Army (RLA), whilst his ally Major general
Ouane Rattikone became the RLA Commander-in-Chief. In response, Siho changed the GMS 1 designation to 'Border Police' or 'Frontier Police' (
French:
Police de Frontiers), and kept a low profile. On 1–3 February 1965, the DNC which had held
de facto control over Vientiane during the previous year, was defeated and disbanded by the RLA in the wake of another
coup d'état led by Maj. Gen.
Kouprasith Abhay held that same month. and his DNC 'empire' was quickly divided, with its units being disbanded: the military intelligence, psychological warfare, and military police personnel were returned to the RLA structure whilst some of the policemen were kept in service and renamed the National Police Corps, which was re-assigned to the Ministry of the Interior of the
Royal Lao Government. After two days of negotiations, the DNC's three airborne-qualified Border Police Special Battalions – BS 33, BS 11, and BS 99 – and their commander,
Lieutenant colonel Thao Ty agreed to lay down their arms with the option of transferring to the
RLA's airborne forces command. By mid-year they had been moved to
Seno, near
Savannakhet and consolidated into a new parachute regiment, Airborne Mobile Group 21 (
French:
Groupement Mobile 21 Aeroportée – GM 21) under Thao Ty's command. ==Structure==