Varicoloured Civil Volunteer Security Activity: From New York City to the NUPS

Abstract

The involvement of volunteers into the work of law enforcement has become a common habit here in Hungary and abroad as well. In Hungary the number of crimes started increasing rapidly during the regime change. Subsequently, the predecessor organisation of the civil volunteer security organisation was established in 1991. Later it has been continuing its function on its current name. The civil volunteer security organisation has become indisputably the biggest, the most planned national organisation of social crime prevention. It has an essentially important role in providing safety of the settlements and it has a serious social acceptance. We show the main parts of the development of the organisation, the organisation itself, and the legal background of its function: the act on civil volunteer security activity, and the diversified activities located in the complex system of law enforcement. Furthermore, some civil volunteer security organisations functioning on the different points of the world and the mission of the university civil volunteer security organisation established at the National University of Public Service are also going to be introduced in the study.