Police in Transition

In June 2001 the Central European University Press published the book “Police in Transition”, which is the conclusion of the Hungarian Helsinki Committee’s Police in Transition project (1997-2001).

The volume contains essays covering almost all of the most topical aspects of the democratic reform of Central and Eastern European police forces, such as the questions of transition, the European tendencies in the governance of the police, the relationship between police and criminality, the role of the police in the constitutional framework, the limits of policing, police brutality, civilian oversight of police, and the possibilities of a democratic reform of police forces in Central and Eastern European countries. The diversity of the circle of the authors (Romanian, Yugoslavian, Hungarian, Polish, Bulgarian, British, and American experts contributed to the material) guarantees a uniquely comprehensive approach, with special focus on the CEE region, which makes the volume a useful source of information for police researchers, experts of the field (both in and outside of the police forces) and NGOs of the Central and Eastern European area, as well as for universities and educational institutes dealing with human rights, constitutional law and policing.

In the meantime the Hungarian Helsinki Committee and its partners also performed the task of updating the “Police in Transition” CD (first published in November 1998). The CD contains thorough country reports on the structure, functioning, accountability, authorizations and international relations of the police forces of Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, England and Wales, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, Romania and Yugoslavia. The police-related legal texts of eight Central and Eastern European countries as well as some studies by well-known experts of policing may also be found on the CD.

http://www.ceupress.com/books/html/PoliceInTransition.html