Systemy policyjne w Unii Europejskiej/en

POLICE SYSTEMS IN THE EUROPEAN UNION – the management of matters pertaining to the protection of order and public safety is reduced to two basic models: centralised and decentralised. These are the two basic organisational models reflected in legal solutions. This, however, is only the starting point for further considerations, because the entire contemporary police reality is located between these two extreme poles, since it is subject to constant changes and transformations under the influence of conditions catalogued further. Factors influencing the nature and changes of the police model in a given country are: the state system (democratic or totalitarian); social control of police activity; the role of local government in protecting public order; quantitative and qualitative development of crime; changes of the scope of tasks of police services as a result of technological and social development; historical conditions. The collapse of the communist system in Eastern Europe also resulted in many social consequences that were not anticipated at the time of the dissolution of the Eastern Bloc. On the one hand, structural and organisational changes in law enforcement systems were natural. The freedom of movement, hopes for general well-being similar to that imagined in the countries “behind the Iron Curtain” and the implementation of the free market principles resulted in a sharp increase in crime and the emergence of new forms and phenomena of social pathology. At the same time, this free flow of the criminal world caused serious consequences for the police services in Western Europe countries and North America, which repeatedly could not cope with new forms of organised crime.. This gave rise to the need for structural changes in law enforcement systems in these countries, adapting to changing social conditions. In individual countries the extent of social control of these services has a major impact on the degree of centralisation or decentralisation of police organisation. Particularly at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, the issue of participation of the civic factor in the form of local authorities at various levels in the operation of police services played an important role in the functioning of an efficient and law-abiding system of law enforcement and in the fight against crime. The level of social control was the best testimony of the degree of development of democracy and civil society in a particular country. Some countries adopted quite radical systems and organisational solutions. The local government fulfilled the role of a hegemon in matters of protection of order and public safety with limited state participation, and the adopted system was completely decentralised. On the one hand, it reflected the domination of liberal views on the functioning of society and public life (the theory of the so-called free commune), on the other hand, it reflected the specificity of development of individual European countries. The development of civilization, technological and economic progress, and at the same time the antagonism of social relations and the increase in common crime meant that the protection of public order required that police services become increasingly professionalised. Therefore, over time, the dominance of the local government over police became an anachronism. A slow process of “nationalizing” police issues was initialised and took various forms depending on the tradition, the political system and legal system in force in a given country, and the role of → local government in exercising the local administrative authority. Two types of systems developed in this sphere, which had serious implications for the organisation of police services. The first type of local government was developed in Anglo-Saxon countries and it enabled citizens to administer public affairs directly through bodies they chose. The second type applied in continental countries, where the residents had an influence on public affairs by cooperating in this area with state officials. In the 20th century, as a result of the crisis of values and turbulent economic, social and national changes, a new form appeared – the totalitarian state. Initially in the form of post-revolutionary Soviet Russia, later in the form of fascist countries (Nazi Germany and Mussolini’s Italy), and finally, after World War II, a block of communist states was formed, headed by the USSR. The totalitarian state (no matter whether fascist or communist) is marked by an extremely centralised and bureaucratic police system, because this enables control of public life and limits civil liberties. The fight against crime is assessed in political terms. From the middle of the 20th century, along with the progress of civilization and the stormy development of new forms of threats and crimes, the need to create specialised police services became indispensable. At the same time, within particular departmental structures, centralised structures were created to ensure rapid information flow, efficient organisation of the fight against crime and professional effectiveness. Nowadays, the formed models of law enforcement and public security systems in the European Union countries can be classified as follows: 1. One-entity model, within which one can distinguish: a. the state system, which can be either decentralised (more or less, depending on the specificity of a given country) or centralised (with a specific participation of local authorities and the social factor); b. the local government system (historical form). 2. The multi-entity model, also in two variants of the system: a. the centralistic option – assumes the existence of many types of police services differing in origin (including local government services), subordination, territorial scope, competence and functionality; b. the decentralised option. (→ police, public safety, public order) [A. Misiuk]

Literatura: A. Misiuk, A. Letkiewicz, M. Skołowski, Policje Unii Europejskiej, Warszawa 2011.