History of the Neighbourhood Police Officers’ Service 2. From the beginning to the regime change

Abstract

Aim: In addition to presenting the first neighbourhood police officers’ regulation, the authors of the work undertake to process and describe the main changes and events of the 60s, 70s and 80s concerning the neighbourhood police officers’ service. In addition, it is important to adequately present the spirit of the neighbourhood police officers’ service of the era.
Methodology: From a methodological point of view, the work is based on document analysis, in addition to the contemporary literature, the official legal sources of the period are also analyzed, using historical and taxonomic processing.
Findings: The neighbourhood police officers’ service, which began in the 1950s, was consolidated into the 1960s. Replacing the orders of the Minister of the Interior, which previously regulated the form of service, the first unified neighbourhood police officers’ regulation was born in 1964. The rules formulated at that time in relation to the form of service proved to be timeless. As a special feature of the spirituality of the neighbourhood police officers’ system in the period under review, the duality of togetherness and discrimination can be highlighted. The neighbourhood police officers’ badge served that purpose, which on the one hand strengthened the district commissioner’s cohesion, and on the other hand distinguished perceptible to the outside world as well or if you like highlighted the neighbourhood police officers from the police force, referring to the high level of personal responsibility which can be derived from the complex system of tasks of the neighbourhood police officers.
Value: The professional-historical review ranges from the stabilization of the neighbourhood police officers’ service after the initial period to the regime change, so it is limited to the period between 1960 and 1990. The examination of the activity of the neighbourhood police officers’ system operating in the smooth period of the Hungarian People’s Republic, also referred to as the Kádár regime, free of major internal and external conflicts, is suitable for detecting periodic tendencies and drawing conclusions based on them.