NCJ Number
146575
Date Published
1993
Length
262 pages
Annotation
This collection of conference presentations appraises the present state of the German police and discusses its ability to meet future challenges.
Abstract
A presentation on impending police challenges (organized crime, a united Europe, and a reunited Germany) stresses the need for an expanded and more effective police force, for updated crime legislation, and for international police cooperation. The next presentation focuses on the police's problem of maintaining a unified, positive self-image when officers are faced daily with numerous frustrating problems. A presentation about centralized police commands emphasizes their role in the fight against national and international crime. Four presentations explain the reorganization of the police in the German states of Hessen, Nordrhein-Westfalen, and Saarland, as well as the status of police operations in the new German states. A roundtable discussion asks how the police profession can become more attractive and offers improved police organization, pay raises, and a shortening of police training among possible solutions. Other individual presentations focus on the increase in crime, drug law offenses, and corruption. A panel suggests a program for internal security, which includes an increase in police efficiency, improved crime prevention, expanded police visibility, and a clear division of responsibilities between federal and state police forces.