The relationship between police, policing, and democracy is full of conflicts and paradoxes. This stems from the involvement of police in politics. The tension between police and the democratic process becomes most distinct when the totalitarian social and political regimes are in the process of transformation towards a democracy. The paper discusses the situation of the police and policing under those conditions. The paper also discusses: (1) the potential conflict between a democratic form of government and the police, especially in situations in which the police organization appears to control the law and to employ it for its own purposes; (2) how police officers' commitment to the norms of the organization, to the professional group, and to personal values may override their commitment to democratic values; (3) democratization of the police organization; (4) arrangements defining the relations between the police and the democratic government; and (5) "democratic policing" in a democratic framework of police organization. References, notes