The History of Law Enforcement Culture in Hungary

Abstract

In Hungary, Ágoston Karvasy was an early pioneer writing about the history of law enforcement. In his first study he defined the concept of law enforcement as a science. The idea of establishing a national police organisation was first mentioned after the reform era but it has not been realized that time but only in the year of 1872. However, the first professional journal of law enforcement was published in 1869 and the word police officer as the ʻguard of the order’ appeared in the Hungarian language in 1870. The scope of authority and jurisdiction of the Police was declared in a law passed in 1881. In 1873 the Metropolitan Police Department was established and in 1905 the Border Police and the Police Department of Fiume were established. In the period between 1945-47, the police continuously emerged. Although the State Security Office was destroyed by the revolution of October 1956 and it was not restored afterwards, it has not effected the Police itself. The organizational culture of the Police is mostly influenced by its educational and training systems. The training of the probationary police officers was approved first by the prime minister in 1884. In 1920 the training of police officers was unified on new bases by the leaders of the Ministry for Internal Affairs and the Police Department. Then the Police Academy was set up in 1948 and the Police College was established in 1971. In 2012 the University of Public Service and its Faculty of Law Enforcement were established and took over the functionalities of the Police Academy as well.