Policing In Central and Eastern Europe: Comparing Firsthand Knowledge with Experience form the West

As scientific study of police and policing has matured over the years, it has broadened its scope in order to address fundamental issues of policing in various contexts and environments. Unfortunately, due to known political reasons in the past, the flow of information, research findings, and experience between the East and the West has been quite limited. While the majority of what can be read on policing in academic journals and textbooks is based on research done in the West, a considerable amount of knowledge on policing has been accumulated among researchers from the East, as well. As police work and cooperation are getting internationalized rapidly, the need for police scholars to cooperate and share with their colleagues from different countries is also more and more evident.

To foster mutual understanding, exchange of views, concepts, and research findings among scientists, researchers, and practitioners from the East and the West, this publication presents a broad coverage of the many topics and disciplines by scholars and practitioners from around the world. Papers in this publication highlight new ideas, theories, methods, and results in a wide range of research and application areas related to police and policing.

The first part of the publication deals with the "Core Issues and Challenges." First, Milan Pagon explores the role and importance of what he calls 'the four pillars of policing:' cooperation, training, education, and research. He believes that countries in Central and Eastern Europe should establish themselves as equal partners in shaping the future of European and international policing. This is followed by a paper by Rainer Schulte who examines future requirements for police managers. Schulte believes that a general move toward a service- providing society is reflecting in a changing role of police, creating new demands upon training of police managers. Bill McDonald and Sergei Paromchik discuss the role of researching police by outside researchers as an instrument of public scrutiny, leading to an increasing police transparency and accountability. In their view, such studies are still a rather novel concept in Central and Eastern Europe. Richard Terrill explores the same issue of police transparency and accountability from a different angle, discussing the impact and modes of citizens oversight of police. He believes that the prospects for countries in Central and Eastern Europe to develop citizen oversight schemes appear unlikely at the moment, considering the infant stage of democracy in many of these countries. Gerald Lynch shares the experience of the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in enhancing police professionalism and specialized training for law enforcement on an international level.

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http://www.ncjrs.gov/policing/