The Budapest Police (BRF) and the Hungarian National Police (ORF) forces was the subject of a number of recent Responses, including HUN39733.E of 7 August 2002, HUN39157.E of 18 July 2002 and HUN38872.E of 17 May 2002.

The BRF and ORF report to the Ministry of the Interior (COE 29 Mar. 2001, 8; OKRI 2000) and, according to Hungarian law enforcement specialist István Szikinger, follow a chain of command defined by the 1996 Service Relations of Officers of Armed Organs Act (GCDCAF Apr. 2002, 3). This chain of command is centralised although subdivided on a county level (Policing 1998, 317; OKRI 2000). Szikinger further described it as a pyramid topped by National Police Headquarters (ORFK) with local (municipal) police departments at the lowest level (Szikinger, 1996). The latter report to 19 county headquarters, which, in turn, are responsible to the ORFK (ibid.). Also referring to this chain of command, Finszter Geza of the Országos Kriminológiai Intézet (OKRI, Hungarian National Institute of Criminology) noted that the ORFK chief of police is responsible for the entire organization (OKRI 2000). Statistics indicate that there are over 150 police headquarters in Hungary (IPA 15 Dec. 2002; OKRI 2000) and the police staff 40,000 persons, of which approximately 32,000 are uniformed officers (ibid.; HHC 5 July 2001, Sec. 1.11). Statistics provided by Hungarian authorities to the United Nations annual survey on criminal justice systems report that there were 28,873 police officers in 2000 (UN 3 Dec. 2002, 151).

Although the 1881 Police Act created the BRF as an urban police force different from the then rural-based national gendarmes (now the ORF), current law accords the BRF the same status as other county headquarters operating under the auspices of the ORFK (Szikinger 1996). Among the other forces mentioned in reports as being responsible to the ORFK, are the Airport Police (ibid.), the Central Riot Police (ibid.) and the Republican Guard (Hungary 2001). The Republican Guard or "government guard" (Central Europe Review 9 May 2000) is, according to two reports, an elite detachment of police responsible for protecting important political and public figures, their residences and government buildings (ibid.; East European Constitutional Review Spring/Summer 2001). In addition, there are reports of a Danube River Police (Rendorség Duna) (Flags of the World 16 Sept. 2000; UN 26 Apr. 2001,5); however, no further information concerning this body was found among the sources consulted.

Law enforcement bodies that do not report to the ORFK include Customs and Finance officers (OKRI 2000; HHC 5 July 2001, Sec. 1.5), the Tax Police (ibid.), the Civil Guards (ibid. Sec. 1.11; ERRC 2001; Policing 1998, 316) and the Border Guards (OKRI 2000; GCDCAF Mar. 2002). Both the Customs and Finance police and the Tax Police report to the Minister of Finance (OKRI 2000; HHC 5 July 2001, Sec. 1.5). Hungary's border guards are responsible to the Ministry of the Interior (GCDCAF Mar. 2002, 5). Border Guards have a dual duty in Hungary that includes law enforcement and national defence (ibid., 4), consequently, they are a part of the armed forces, acting independently of the police and supervised by a chief commander (OKRI 2000). The guards' headquarters oversee 14,000 persons in 10 regional districts encompassing 51 border traffic offices, 14 mobile forces and 27 criminal investigative services and intelligence branch offices (GCDCAF Mar. 2002, 5,6).

In addition, Hungary introduced an institution called the Civil Guards in 1991 to act as a citizen patrol (Policing 1998, 316). According to OKRI, the National Association of Civil Guards controlled 40,000 Civil Guards in 2000 (2000). While reportedly concerned with public safety at the village/neighbourhood level (OKRI 2000), Szikinger noted that Civil Guards have "no powers beyond ... ordinary people" (HHC 5 July 2001, Sec. 1.11). Roma Rights referred to this organization as providing a "rudimentary policing function," although it is "not at all bound by standards of training or disciplinary codes expected of the police" (ERRC 2001).

Further information, including detailed discussions of the history, structure, organization and legal development of Hungarian law enforcement, which is specifically focused on the ORFK, can be found in Istvan Szikinger's "Country Report on the Hungarian Police," published as part of the Hungarian Helsinki Committee's Hungarian Report of the Police in Transition Project and available from http://www.helsinki.hu/article.cgi?lang=en&fo=5&al=5.

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum. Please find below the list of additional sources consulted in researching this Information Request.

References

Central Europe Review [Prague]. 9 May 2000. Vol. 2, No. 18. Gustáv Kosztolányi. "Stop Press, Part 3: The Juszt Affair." http://www.ce-review.org/00/18/csardas18_juszt.html [Accessed 18 Apr. 2003]

Council of Europe (COE). 29 March 2001. Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. "Report to the Hungarian Government on the Visit to Hungary Carried Out by the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) from 5 to 16 December 1999." http://www.cpt.coe.int/documents/hun/2001-02-inf-eng.pdf [Accessed 15 Apr. 2003]

East European Constitutional Review [New York]. Spring/Summer 2001. Vol. 10, No. 2-3. "Constitutional Watch: A Country-by Country Update on Constitutional Politics in Eastern Europe and the ex-USSR." http://www.law.nyu.edu/eecr/vol10num2_3/constituionalwatch/hungary.html [Accessed 18 Apr. 2003]

European Roma Rights Centre (ERRC). 2001. Roma Rights. No. 4. Claude Cahn. "Smoke and Mirrors: Roma and Minority Policy in Hungary." http://www.errc.org/rr_nr4_2001/noteb6.shtml [Accessed 16 Apr. 2003]

Flags of the World. 16 September 2000. Ivan Sache. "Hungary - River Police and Pilot Flags." http://flagspot.net/flags/hu~polic.html [Accessed 16 Apr. 2003]

Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces (GCDCAF). April 2002. István Szikinger. Armed Control of Civilian Forces in Hungary. Working Paper Series - No. 14. http://www.dcaf.ch/publications/Working_Papers/14.pdf [Accessed 15 Apr. 2003]

_____. March 2002. Zoltán Szabó. Border Security Systems: The Hungarian Case Study. Working Paper Series - No. 6. http://www.dcaf.ch/publications/Working_Papers/06.pdf [Accessed 15 Apr. 2003]

Hungarian Helsinki Committee (HHC). 5 July 2001. Istvan Szikinger. "Country Report on the Hungarian Police" http://www.helsinki.hu/docs/huncountrep.doc [Accessed 21 Apr. 2003]

Hungary. 2001. Office of the Parliamentary Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information. "Annual Report: 2001." http://www.obh.hu/adatved/indexek/2001/cont.htm [Accessed 16 Apr. 2003]

International Police Association (IPA). 15 December 2002. "History of the Hungarian Police." http://www.ipa-hungary.hu/pages/history.htm [Accessed 15 Apr. 2003]

Országos Kriminológiai Intézet (OKRI, National Institute of Criminology). 2000. Finszter Géza. "The System of Public Safety in the Republic of Hungary." http://www.okri.hu/?lang=gb&menu=archive_system [Accessed 16 Apr. 2003]

Policing: An International Journal of Police Strategies and Management [Cambridge]. 1998. Vol. 21, No. 2. R.I. Mawby and I. Gorgenyi. "Burglery Victims and the Response of the Police: Findings for a Hungarian City."

Szikinger, István. 1996. "Continuity and Change in Hungarian Policing in the Mirror of Public Security Detention." In Policing in Central and Eastern Europe: Comparing Firsthand Knowledge with Experience from the West. Edited by Milan Pagon. Slovenia. College of Police and Security Studies. (National Criminal Justice Reference Service) http://www.ncjrs.org/policing/con253.htm [Accessed 10 Apr. 2003]

United Nations (UN). 3 December 2002. Office on Drugs and Crime. "Hungary." In the Seventh United Nations Survey of Crime Trends and Operations of Criminal Justice Systems (1998-2000). http://www.odccp.org/pdf/crime/seventh_survey/7sc.pdf [Accessed 23 Apr. 2003]

_____. 26 April 2001. Economic and Social Council. "Industrial Safety and Water Protection in Transboundary River Basins: International Workshop and Exercise: Information Notice by the Delegation of Hungary and the Convention's Secretariats." (CP.TEIA/2001/4; MP.WAT/WG.1/2001/2) http://www.unece.org/env/documents/2001/cp/teia/cp.teia.2001.4.e.pdf [Accessed 16 Apr. 2003]

Additional Sources Consulted

Internet sites, including:

Council of Europe

European Roma Rights Centre

EUROPOL

Globalsecurity.org

Heuni, European Institute for Crime Prevention and Control

Hungary. Government Portal

Hungary. Ministry of Defence

Hungary. National Security Office

International Bodyguard and Security Service Association

National Criminal Justice Reference Service

Project on Ethnic Relations

Hungarian language sites not available in English, including

Cops.hu

Hungary. Budapest Police Headquarters

Hungary. Ministry of the Interior

Hungary. National Border Guards

Hungary. National Police