The VPB functioned as the de facto armed branch of the Ministry for State Security (Stasi).

The German Democratic Republic's Ministry of the Interior (German: Ministerium des Innern, or MdI) maintained the independent Department of the Alert Units of the Volkspolizei known as the Volkspolizei-Bereitschaften (VPB).

The Presidium of the People's Police in East Berlin had three units located in Basdorf.

Each Alert unit was organized as follows: These units were equipped with light and medium infantry weapons, SK-1 wheeled armoured personnel carriers, SK-2 water cannon (both armoured and unarmoured versions) and buses.

The political reliability of the Alert Units was of particular importance to the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED) as they would be used against the population in the event of social disorders such as the strike of 17 June 1953 in the industrial areas of East Germany.