 |
|
 |
 |
 |
|
| | Zsaru ('cop') is the official weekly magazine of the Hungarian police force, issued by the National Police Headquarters. As opposed to many police magazines in Europe and around the world it is circulated not within the police force, but is available at any newsstand for the wide public. It's readers are not only or mostly policemen, but those people in general who are interested in the work of the police force. The aim of the magazine is to inform and entertain at the same time by covering real crime affaires, investigations, the many aspects of the work of th+e Hungarian policemen including members of the special teams. Zsaru also regularly covers foreign crime stories, matters of organized crime, and informs it's readers on the activities of international police organizations. The magazine regularly deals with matters of prevention of crime, gives advice to readers. In addition to professional articles like those on weapons, forensic science we also publish interwiews with celebrities, recipes, crossword puzzles, articles on fashion and even wines. Zsaru follows a long tradition of police magazines in Hungary. The first such magazine - Közbiztonság ('Public Security') - was published in 1869. Zsaru - previously Magyar Rendőr ('Hungarian Policeman') first appeared in January 1992, after the democratic changes in Hungary and Eastern Europe. Zsaru online was started in May 2002, and is attracting more and more readers every month. You can contact the magazine by sending an e-mail to: titkarsag@mail.zsaru.hu Challenge posed by new types of crime High Commissioner László Bene visited our editorial office The High Commissioner thinks the police force's performance is much better than it appears to be in the news. Major General László Bene is particularly proud of the cops who more than two weeks ago closed with a group of armed criminals superior in firepower and made them run. The Head of the National Police HQ answered our questions in our editorial office. - What do you think the international evaluation of the Hungarian National Police is like? - Since this country's membership in the EU and ever since we have been taking part in the efforts of Europol and other international law enforcement organisations, we have been delegating representatives to international conferences not only at senior officer but at expert level as well, and we have been able to directly perceive a very positive international evaluation of the HNP. Added to this is the experience we gather in cooperation mainly with the law enforcement agencies of the neighbouring countries, in the joint investigation of specific cases. We have received positive feedback on the investigations conducted by the National Bureau of Investigation, our most recent successful criminal investigation was conducted through the joint efforts of the Italian investigative authorities, but mention must also be made of the cooperative efforts we made with the police force of Serbia-Montenegro in the investigation of the mass murder of an ethnic Hungarian family in Horgos. During his recent visit at the National Police Day events in Budapest, the Serbian High Commissioner expressed his special thanks for our cooperation in that case. On the international level the HNP is recognised, there is a general view that it has fallen into line with the rest of Europe. Regrettably, this is not yet the case in terms of technical equipment. From 500 down to 200 - Do you see the same favourable picture within our borders as well? - Evidenced by several public opinion surveys, the public acceptance of the force is getting better and better. It has been apparent for the past couple of years that the number of traditional crimes, having a direct effect on the public - car theft, robbery, burglary and theft, including home burglary - has been steadily decreasing. We hope that this trend continues this year as well, and we also hope that the success rate of the investigations will steadily improve. - What does this mean in figures? - A few years ago the number of crimes involving the use of firearms was about 500, the same number was less than 200 last year. The other criminal violations mentioned above decreased by 30%. At the same time we have noted warning signs of a kind of restructuring within overall criminality. Although the number of traditional crimes is lower, violence is ever more apparent in our everyday life. The moral level - or, rather the lack of any morals - that prevails on our public roads is unacceptable. - The police officer sometimes shuns taking action. Why id that so? Is it because taking action against offenders is something unpopular? Or, for some reason or other the uniformed police officer has no opportunity to take action? On the other hand, law-abiding citizens would like to see road hogs pulled over, stopped, searched and fined by police. - There are three important factors in public road traffic: the motor vehicle, the driver and the public road. Of these we can impact one, namely the driver. We have two means for this, one is persuasion and the other is imposing statutory sanctions on traffic violators. Motorisation and consequently road traffic increased heavily over the past couple of years, the throughput of public roads, however, did not increase accordingly. This makes road users impatient. Some of the traffic violations can only be controlled through static checks, but successful prosecution of traffic violators on the move requires sophisticated technical equipment. At present we do not have this type of equipment in sufficient quality and numbers within the Police. - Will the situation change for the better by the fact that you recently signed a contract of lease of 3,000 cars that will enter into service as patrol cars? - The Police can expect to receive 1,000 cars this year, and in the next two years we will be acquiring 1,000 cars annually. Our mobility will improve to a great extent, we will have a car pool of faster, more modern, and cost-effectively operated motorcars, but the new technical equipment requires further investments. With regard to the public road safety in this country, we have reached a point where we can say with certainty that it is not only the police who have responsibilities, things to do in this area. Agencies and organisations under other ministries should shoulder a greater share of the tasks, and it would require Government action to make the situation improve. Very Useful - The number of civic guards is higher than 60, 000, they are volunteers who openly commit themselves to granting assistance to the police. Do you think their activities are of any use? - What a question! Of course I think they are very useful! During the latest general meeting of the National Civic Guard Federation I even said in no uncertain terms how much I liked the evaluations and contributions, because it transpired from them that they and us view certain issues in a strikingly similar way, in addition, they consider solutions that are very close to our own ideas about resolving those issues. They also wish to strengthen prevention, and cooperation between our respective organisations is extremely good and efficient. - Given the current strength of the Police, can the designated targets be met? - Only if we set up priorities. We are unable to fully discharge all the responsibilities that statutory law delegates into the Police's competence. That is why we need to continually analyse and assess our opportunities, the public security concerns and decide in which particular area and how we use the available resources. Since we are unable to assign a police patrol officer to every single street, we wish to improve our response capabilities. Car chases have become more frequent recently because we arrive at the scene of a crime or an incident faster than before. On several occasions my colleagues have been able to arrest the presumed perpetrators of street robberies on or near the crime scenes. - By the way, car chase. The Police have recently received a lot of criticism on account of car chases. What do you think of that? - Weeks earlier a survey and evaluation was completed of car chases that had happened up to that time. We looked at international experience, the legal conditions of the car chase and we found that not everything was in place in this particular area. We are considering what we can do at the Police NCO Schools, the Police Officer Training College and within our own in-service further training system to train better police drivers. But it is not only the instruction of chase - or the following as I call it - that is important, but also the training of senior police officers commanding such and similar operations. The General Directorate of Public Security will table their complex proposals within a couple of weeks, and I will make a decision after studying that. We also need to look at the budgetary implications of the proposed action. - What kind of serious crimes do you think we need to reckon with in the near future? - I cannot in the least promise you that there will be no serious crime along the lines of the armed attack against an armoured cash delivery truck at Budaörs recently. An increase in drug-related crime, in trafficking in human beings is expected, and I think the cash-flow system is going to be exposed to ever more attacks, and IT crime will also expand. Our forecasts indicate an increase in the so-called white-collar crime (WCC), and there will be more high-tech criminal perpetrators. These will have a lesser effect on the community, but pose an extremely great threat to the nation's economy; criminal damage inflicted in this area will have an impact on the livelihood of all of us. The police are making conscious efforts to meet the challenge of intellectual crime. This clearly belongs to organised crime, so officers working cases like these will have a lot more to do than at present. I think it is rather alarming that more and more children and youngsters are involved in crime partly as perpetrators, and partly as victims. The families, schools and child-care institutions and also the police will need to pay attention to the young generation in earnest. Frequent criticism - Do you think the communication of the Police is appropriate? - It is a very important area. I follow with interest but also with some sadness that the evaluation of certain organisations often does not depend on real performance, but to a great extent on their own ability to represent themselves in the mass media. I would like to see positive press coverage of those who really perform well. We are often criticised in the press, at the same time my experience says that the performance of the individual police units is much better than the image that comes across in the various media. Written by Károly Cs. CSALA-László TAKÁTS He works out and has a sweet tooth The High Commissioner works 12-13 hours a day, and his free weekends are few and far between. He does not like to talk about himself at all, but this time he was willing to say, somewhat tight-lipped, that he does sport, he is a regular visitor in the gym, and likes hiking with his family. Sport, he says, is excellent if for nothing else, as refreshment - a 15-minute workout, no matter how exhausted or downhearted he may be, always freshens him up. You need to have a certain amount of physical fitness to cope with the everyday strain. In our editorial office he only accepted mineral water, nothing else. He did not touch the cookie-bowl because, as he said, he might have wolfed down all the tea biscuits in it. He has grown a sweet tooth recently, he admits, almost shyly. |
|
|
Copyright (c) Zsaru Rendőrségi Magazin. 2002.05.01. |