History of the Neighbourhood Police Officers’ Service 1. The Beginnings

Abstract

Aim: The purpose of the present study is to show how the district commissioner, a representative of the service that blurs the boundaries between disciplines and service branches, was born and how the complex policing mindset that formed the basis of it was created.
Methodology: Numerous, critical and evaluative writings on the new form of service have been published by contemporary experts, providing an excellent source for presenting the eventful initial period of a revolutionary form of service that began in the specific circumstances of a particular system of the past. In terms of methodology, the work is based on document analysis, in addition to the literature, the official legal sources of the period are also analyzed, using the method of historical and systematic processing.
Findings: In the early 1950s, it was recognized that the law enforcement tools previously used were no longer able to effectively meet citizens’ need for public safety and to deal effectively against the post-war crime structure. Therefore, in the political easing that took place in 1953, the actual home affairs leadership was committed to reforms. As a result, the practice of the police’s public order specialization changed, as the area responsibility system and then the neighbourhood police officers’ service built on its ruins professed completely different principles and methods compared to previous forms of service. After the introduction of the neighbourhood police officers’service in 1954, the decade was about finding a way out of childhood illnesses. Although the neighbourhood police officers’ service was created as an example, a system already operating and proven in the Soviet Union, this form of service could not be adopted without modification, so it seemed necessary to adapt it to the specifics of Hungarian society.
Value: As a result of the review of the development history of the service form, we can draw conclusions about the purposefulness and effectiveness of the current operation.