Is Hungary’s safety at risk? Police face serious challenges
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Hungary is a popular tourist destination because it is perceived as a safe place, but one question arises: how long can this be maintained when there is a huge police shortage?
Police shortages
An article by HVG reports that police shortages could be much higher than the officially published police figures, according to trade unions. They say the government is hiding the problem and that in the central part of the country, for example, they can often only ensure adequate numbers by sending uniformed officers from other parts of the country.
Official figures show a shortfall of only 4-5,000, with a 91.3 percent saturation rate, yet there are reports that fish guards have been deployed to patrol some areas.
Police presence
It also tells us that Isaszeg, for example, which is part of the Budapest agglomeration, has only sent patrols to its 12,000 residents when the municipality pays millions extra to the police. This also means that in Hungary, police presence in cities is not included in the basic service.
Additionally, a key element of the police shortage is that, since the border police were disbanded under the first Orbán government, the police are still protecting the southern border from migration pressure, where they are being deployed. In addition, the government’s policy also requires police officers to serve abroad, for example, in the Balkans, in the fight against migration, while there are not enough local police.