The current challenges of the Hungarian neighbourhood police officers’ form of service

Abstract

In the last years it’s becoming clearer that the neighbourhood police officers’ form of service is less and less able to fulfill its decades-old designation. It seems the form of service stands at a crossroads: renewal or termination. After long decades the differences of the rural and urban tasks are coming to the front again. Today we see that practice transforms the rules that don’t work. Nowadays, the issue of the task system and contact with the population is constantly on the agenda. It has became clear that the prohibition of certain prohibited tasks for example the transfer of detainees was untenable. The previous strict rules on the neighbourhood police officer’s operational area have become more nuanced. On the other hand, the ensurance of continous police presence in the area of competence of police forces has been brought to the fore. All signs point to the complex task system should be reconsidered. It is obvious that the contact with the population and municipalities has increasingly been pushed into the background since the time of the regime change. The same can be said about the tasks of the criminal service and, in general, about the complexity typical of the service of the district commissioner. In addition, the question of how compatible the sanctions are with the community police attitude is still on the agenda. The timeless basic principles of the service form formulated in the 1950s also need to be reconsidered. These are the main questions and problems of the neighbourhood police officers’ form of service.