Comparative Research on Factors Affecting the Credibility of the Police Force in the Slovak Republic
Copyright (c) 2026 Dominika Dinušová, Mária Sabayová
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Absztrakt
Introduction: Public trust in the police is necessary for the effective functioning of the Police Force and for the fulfilment of its social tasks.
Objective: The aim of the research is to identify key areas of police work as perceived by citizens and to outline, among other things, the extent of the influence of general social aspects of the security environment on the relationship between the public and the police and on individual aspects of police work.
Methods: The research is based on 1. a content analysis of complaints made by citizens of the Slovak Republic in 2021 and 2023 and 2. a comparison of the analyses of complaints in the aforementioned period.
Results: The most significant proportion of complaints concerned the administrative conduct of police officers (in 2021: 45%; 2023: 53%), followed by police conduct (2021: 34%; 2023: 35%), complaints about the handling of complaints (2021: 18%, 2023: 11%) and technical systems (2021: 3%; 2023: 1%).
Conclusions: Between 2021 and 2023, there are no significant differences in the ratio of complaints directed at individual areas. 2. Complaints about procedural practices prevail (e.g. failure to register a case as a criminal complaint, but as a misdemeanour in accordance with the complainant’s expectations, etc.). The factor that citizens perceive as an important aspect of police work is the ethical dimension of police conduct. A large part of the claims made in the complaints correspond to the unfulfilled expectations of citizens.
Kulcsszavak:
Hivatkozások
BILSKÝ, Peter – PAJPACHOVÁ, Monika (2002): Vývoj dôveryhodnosti Policajného zboru u občanov. Projekt výskumnej úlohy. Bratislava: Akadémia PZ v Bratislave.
BILSKÝ, Peter – ČUŘÍK, P. – ERNEKER, J. (2000): Náčrt faktorov, ktoré ovplyvňujú dôveryhodnosť Policajného zboru. Policajná teória a prax, 7(3–4), 23–40.
BOATENG, F. D. (2013): Restoring the Lost Hope: A Multidimensional Approach for Building Public Trust in the Police. Journal of the Institute of Justice & International Studies, (13), 48–60.
CAMPBELL, William R. (2004): The Sources of Institutional Trust in East and West Germany: Civic Culture or Economic Performance? German Politics, 13(3), 401–419. Online: https://doi.org/10.1080/0964400042000287437
DINUŠ, Peter (2019): O niektorých formách triedneho boja buržoázie v rámci bipolarity a nástupu unipolarity. In Svet v bode obratu. O protirečivosti vývoja civilizácie v 20. a na začiatku 21. storočia. Bratislava: VEDA, 63–91.
DINUŠOVÁ, Dominika (2025): Code of Ethics of a Police Officer in the Context of Shaping the Security Environment of the Slovak Republic. Magyar Rendészet, 25(Special issue), 36–47. Online: https://doi.org/10.32577/MR.2025.KSZ.1.2
DINUŠOVÁ, Dominika – SABAYOVÁ, Mária (2024): Determinants of the Credibility of the Police Force from the Perspective of Citizen’s Complaints about the Police Service. Policija i sigurnost, 33(3), 247–264. Online: https://doi.org/10.59245/ps.33.3.2
European Union (2021): Standard Eurobarometer 94 – Winter 2020–2021. Online: https://europa.eu/eurobarometer/surveys/detail/2355
European Union (2023): Standard Eurobarometer 98 – Winter 2022–2023. Online: https://europa.eu/eurobarometer/surveys/detail/2872
HERZOGOVÁ, Zuzana (2003): Policejní etika. Praha: vlastním nákladem [published by the author].
HÖPPNER, Corina (2009): Trust – A Monolithic Panacea in Land Use Planning? Land Use Policy, 26(4), 1046–1054. Online: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2008.12.007
IVANČÍK, Radoslav (2024): Bezpečnostné implikácie globalizácie vo vybraných sférach modernej ľudskej spoločnosti. Vojenské reflexie, 19(2), 32–53. Online: https://doi.org/10.52651/vr.a.2024.2.32-53
JUNKOVÁ, Dana – KNÝ, M. (2021): Interakce znalostní teorie a policejní praxe se zaměřením na oblast důvěryhodnosti policejního sboru. In DINUŠOVÁ, Dominika (ed.): Doveryhodnosť Policajného zboru na pozadí aktuálních otázok policajnej teórie a praxe: zborník vedeckých prác. Bratislava: Akadémia PZ v Bratislave,145–157.
KOVÁČ, Ernest – BELKO, Jozef (2025): Utilization of Mediation in Resolving Complex B2B Controversies from the Perspective of Strategic Conflict Management. In TARTARAJ, Azeta – BELKO, Jozef (eds.): Dialogue on Mediation. Inspiration for Conflict Resolution. Modra: Inštitút vzdelávania a osobnostného rozvoja, 159–169.
LEWIS, J. David – WEIGERT, Andrew (1985): Trust as a Social Reality. Social Forces, 63(4), 967–985. Online: https://dx.doi.org/10.1093/sf/63.4.967
Ministerstvo vnútra SR (2021): Správa o vybavovaní sťažností a petícií v pôsobnosti Ministerstva vnútra Slovenskej republiky za rok 2021. Online: https://www.minv.sk/?urad-inspekcnej-sluzby&subor=516370
Ministerstvo vnútra SR (2023): Správa o vybavovaní sťažností a petícií v pôsobnosti Ministerstva vnútra Slovenskej republiky za rok 2023. Online: https://www.minv.sk/?urad-inspekcnej-sluzby&subor=516370
MURDZA, Karol (2023): Sociologické aspekty skúmania dôveryhodnosti Policajného zboru. In SABAYOVÁ, Mária – DINUŠOVÁ, Dominika – CIPRO, Ivana (eds.): Dôveryhodnosť Policajného zboru – teoretické východiská a praktické perspektívy. Bratislava: Akadémia PZ v Bratislave. 15–37.
MURDZA, Karol (2025): Sociologická reflexia vybraných problémov policajnej kriminality a kriminalizácie policajtov. In Spoločnosť v (ne)bezpečí? Sociologické reflexie súčasného vývoja obrany a bezpečnosti. Bratislava: Sekcia sociológie armády SSS pre SAV a DEKK Inštitút, 105–123.
Príručka k etickému kódexu príslušníka Policajného zboru vydaného nariadením Ministerstva vnútra Slovenskej republiky č. 41/2022 o etickom kódexe príslušníka Policajného zboru [Guide to the Code of Ethics for Members of the Police Force issued by Regulation No. 41/2022 of the Ministry of the Interior of the Slovak Republic on the Code of Ethics for Members of the Police Force]
Sabayová, Mária – Junková, Dana (2022): Trust in the Police. In Müller, Michal – Slavíčková, Pavla (eds.): KNOWCON 2022. Knowledge on Economics and Management. Conference Proceedings. Olomouc: Palacký university, 155–161. https://doi.org/10.5507/ff.22.24462325
SEKHON, Harjit – ENNEW, Christine – KHAROUF, Husni – DEVLIN, James (2014): Trustworthiness and Trust: Influences and Implications. Journal of Marketing Management, 30(3–4), 409–430. Online: https://doi.org/10.1080/0267257X.2013.842609
SEPPÄNEN, Risto – BLOMQVIST, Kirsimarja – SUNDQVIST, Sanna (2007): Measuring Inter-Organizational Trust – A Critical Review of the Empirical Research in 1990–2003. Industrial Marketing Management, 36(2), 249–265. Online: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.indmarman.2005.09.003
SIMMEL, Georg (1997): Peníze v moderní kultuře a jiné eseje. Praha: SLON.
ŠVIHLÍKOVÁ, Ilona (2015): Jak jsme se stali kolonií. Praha: Rybka Publishers.
Legal sources
Nariadenie Ministerstva vnútra Slovenskej republiky č. 48/2019 o sťažnostiach [Decree No. 48/2019 of the Ministry of the Interior of the Slovak Republic on complaints]
Nariadenie ministerstva vnútra č 41 z 24. februára 2022 o etickom kódexe príslušníka Policajného zboru [Regulation of the Ministry of the Interior No. 41 of February 24, 2022, on the Code of Ethics for Members of the Police Force]
Zákon č. 9/2010 Z. z. o sťažnostiach. Online: 9/2010 Z.z. - Zákon o sťažnostiach