Conference

EUROPEAN POLICE SCIENCE AND RESEARCH BULLETIN
SPECIAL CONFERENCE EDITION
EDITORIAL INTRODUCTION
Detlef Nogala
European Police College - CEPOL
The 2013 CEPOL Annual European Police Research
and Science Conference which took place at the
German Police University in Münster, Germany,
was actually the tenth of its kind since the
European Police College introduced the event as
a place where police educators and professionals
would meet and exchange perspectives with
academic scientists and institutional researchers
and scientists. In the year before, in 2012 in
Lyon, the contributions had centred on the
development of police science in Europe and its
potential impact on police practice and police
education and training in general terms. This
time, in 2013, when the repercussions of the
crisis that took off in 2008 in the international
banking sector have had already a strong impact
on the budgets of governments across European
countries, and affecting their willingness or
ability to fund public expenditure for services like
the police, a more practically issue was put to
experts and the participants of the conference
to be examined and discussed: what are the
challenges for policing, police officers, police
trainers and those who demand or receive their
services in times of severe economic constraints?
Budget cuts, austerity, Euro–crisis, doing more
with less – these were then the topic headlines,
dominating the political and public discourse.
While police forces and organisations are
confronted with the political demand to reform
and streamline their business, a growing number
of citizens began to feel under economic distress
as well, caused by widespread unemployment,
in particular among the young, or by sinking
living standards among the middle and working
classes. The full force of the social consequences
of financial turmoil and the corresponding
economic downturn has not been shared equally
across EU member states, but even lesser affected
countries inside or outside of the Euro-zone
could not escape the side-effects of the crisis
in development. Social protest, scapegoating
of minorities and distrust in governments and
their bodies is often an inescapable upshot and
police officers can be literally caught “between
the lines” - on the one hand being subject to
worsening working conditions and pay imposed
by their political masters, on the other hand
blamed and confronted by the disadvantaged
and marginalised for being oppressed or not
being sufficiently protected and cared for. In
democratic, open societies, police forces and
police officers have to square the wheel in
finding the right balance between upholding the
rule of law, professional conduct and efficiency
while respecting not just fundamental human
rights, but also meeting the European citizens’
reasonable expectation of their sound public
service.
It was with a reference to this economic, political
and social background, the organisers of the
conference from the German Police University,
the Ecole Nationale Supérieure de la Police, the
Faculty of Criminal Justice and Security at the
University of Maribor, and CEPOL, had invited
contributions and papers from experts and
scholars from Europe and overseas: What would
scientific research have to contribute, and if
any, what could be the ramifications for police
training and education?
In all 44 keynotes, papers, and presentations
were on the programme, encouraging lively,
occasionally controversial discussions and
debates among the overall 220 participants
and speakers. Holding the strong belief, that
the further development of European police
science and a good public police service is not
just a matter of small expert circles, CEPOL has
committed itself to share the outcomes of the
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