Review: The Last Service – Stories of Police Heroes

Abstract

Objective: The aim of the study is to analyze the volume The Last Service edited by the National Defense Service, which explores the moral and organizational dimensions of the Hungarian police profession through the lives of ten police officers who died heroically. The review examines how remembrance becomes a building block of police identity, morality, and community culture.
Methodology: The research is based on qualitative content analysis, which interprets the narratives of the volume’s ten chapters within the framework of
organizational culture and memory theory. The study contextualizes the social construction of police heroism by drawing on international literature sources.
Findings: The stories of the heroic dead are imprints of the history of policing after the change of regime: armed robberies, the integration of the border guard, and anti-terrorist operations all reflect the changing but constantly risky nature of the police profession. Commemorations strengthen comradely cohesion, reduce organizational cynicism, and offer a moral example for young police officers.
Value: The volume – and its scholarly processing – contributes to the cultivation of the institutional memory of the Hungarian police and the strengthening of its identity. Heroic memory is not only mourning, but also the self-sustaining
force of police culture: through the heroes of the past, police officers of the present also gain meaning, moral direction, and community pride for their profession.