NCJ Number
181547
Journal
International Journal of Police Science & Management Volume: 2 Issue: 2 Dated: September 1999 Pages: 164-174
Date Published
September 1999
Length
11 pages
Annotation
This paper uses examples from Hungary to describe how police researchers and police practitioners may differ in their perspectives related to the challenges of fear of crime, criminal violence, drugs and drug-related crimes, and other issues.
Abstract
The Hungarian Republic has some 45,000 police and a ratio of 1 police officer for every 337 citizens. The largest departments in the Hungarian National Police are those of public order, traffic law enforcement, and administration. Uniformed officers focus mainly on daily patrol by car, motorcycle, or horseback. Public security is the mission of the police. Police selection criteria encompass physical, psychological, and mental aptitudes, as well as a secondary education and a clean criminal record. Training is extensive. The media do not portray the police negatively, despite the police's tradition-based reputation of being unnecessarily authoritarian and ignorant, uneducated persons. However, public antipathy toward the police is evident in jokes and other ways. Svraka's presentation to a 1994 symposium did not make it clear that the increased information available to the public since the fall of communism is one reason for the increasing fear of crime despite the decreasing rate of crime. The presentation also did not make clear violent crimes such as murder and manslaughter are now largely motivated by money and perpetrated by murderers hired by gang bosses. The presentation also did not emphasize the threat from the domestic production of amphetamines. Therefore, greater collaboration between police researchers and police practitioners is needed. Tables and 18 references (Author abstract modified)