Changing Patterns of Culture and its Organisation of the Police in a Society of Transition - Case Study: Hungary

The authors examine what happens to the police when a country is in transition towards a more democratic organisation. They use Hungary as the main example, but also provide information about other Eastern European countries. First they elaborate on the case of continuity - discontinuity. Transition is not a result of one moment, it is more appropriate to talk about the erosion of previous values and patterns having taken place for years or even decades instead of their sudden change. There is, however, an indisputable influence of politics on the police. In the course of the change of regime, not only the police but also all the institutions that previously served (in varying degrees) the institutionalised control of criminality, came to a crisis point and their existence and functions became questionable. The authors deal with the vacuum of legitimacy, and possible answers, such as auditing of the police, democratisation and several ways to establish accountability. Finally, a model of the democratic organisation of the police (demilitarised, decentralised and de-concentrated) is sketched.