Original: This is no minor inconvenience, as security checkpoints (manned by "pols" and "nats", the police and National Guard) are set up throughout the city to stop and arrest anyone without valid ID.
Simplified: This is no minor inconvenience, as security checkpoints (manned by 'pols' and 'Nats', the police and National Guard) are set up throughout the city to stop and arrest anyone without valid ID.