avior--hooliganism, begging, and vagrancy--and other antisocial
manifestations. They see that unsupervised and stray children are
provided for.

Many militia functions are peripheral to the primary police duties of
law enforcement and criminal investigation. Such functions include
social controls having diverse objectives ranging from gun control to
keeping undesirables off Sofia streets during visits of foreign
dignitaries. The police have unusual powers in dealing with beggars,
vagabonds, and others in the category that they classify as socially
dangerous. Some of the controls are directed at preventing crime; others
appear intended to reduce the possibility of incidents on occasions when
the presence of such persons could be embarrassing. The regulation
allows the police to prohibit individuals from visiting specified towns
or areas or even from leaving their residences for a twenty-four-hour
period. Some may be prohibited from meeting certain other specified
persons or from frequenting certain parts of towns. Such restrictions
can be for definite or for indefinite periods of time. Persons may be
denied the use of common carriers or the privilege of attending sports
events or of visiting certain public institutions. Some, prostitutes for
example, may be denied the right to become telephone subscribers. If
they think it advisable, the police may require some persons whom they
are monitoring to report to them on a daily or other regular basis.

Individually held weapons, ammunition, and explosives are accounted for
and are registered with the militia. Certain forestry and farm
personnel, hunters, sportsmen, and youth organizations are authorized to
retain controlled weapons. Explosives are permitted when they are
required in, for example, construction projects. By law there is no
production of cold weapons--brass knuckles, daggers, scimitars, and the
like--in the country.

The police collect or maintain a major share of local records for the
_obshtina_ people's councils. These records deal with vital statistics,
citizenship, identification, travel visas, registration of residences,
licenses and permits, and employment data. A person acquires Bulgarian
citizenship in the circumstances that are accepted in most other
countries--by ancestry, place of birth, or naturalization--but there may
be somewhat more than the usual number of situations in which he may
lose it. Persons are deprived of citizenship if they leave the