Vietnamese Bureau of Investigation
For practical reasons, the Michigan State University Group focused more attention on the Sûreté than on either the municipal police or the civil guard. A national law enforcement agency also called the Vietnamese Bureau of Investigation (VBI), the sureté numbered some three thousand plainclothes officers and had jurisdiction in customs, immigration, revenue, and major criminal offenses. Its wide range of responsibilities necessitated that it obtain the bulk of the material aid and training. Sureté agents generally exercised greater authority than local policemen and in some cases doubled as city police chiefs. As a result, equipment intended for municipal forces often went to the VBI.437 Records
