NCJ Number
151183
Date Published
1993
Length
153 pages
Annotation
This report presents information and statistics pertinent to police operations in 25 European countries.
Abstract
The European Council (EC) countries included are Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, and the United Kingdom. The non-EC countries included are Andorra, Austria, Finland, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Malta, Monaco, Norway, San Marino, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, and Vatican City. For this report, two studies were particularly useful. One is a 1989 worldwide overview of police forces and penal systems by George T. Kurian, and the other is a report on 24 European police forces compiled in 1989 by the German police official Arved F. Semerak in collaboration with the International Police Association. Although most of the country reports in the various sources were composed by police functionaries or other government officials, some were written by system critics or individuals who operate from a different perspective. Where possible, each entry follows a standard format for the information provided. General information on each country encompasses governmental type, capital, constitution, legal system, executive branch, legislative branch, and judicial branch. Other categories of information are crime figures, the presence of racism and right-wing extremism in the country, other political violence, statistics on asylum seekers, police personnel and expenditure statistics, and police structure. Other information provided includes recruitment and training, weaponry and special equipment, women in the police, assessment of police performance, the prison situation, and private security.