Development and current issues of the legal institution of a complaint against police measures

Abstract

The author examines the development of the legal institution of the complaint against police measures and the current situation as a result of the 2020 legislative process. By its nature, it uses historical and forensic analytical methods as tools for investigation. Complaints against police measures are not a new legal institution in Hungary either. The demand for complaint procedures to be conducted outside the police was formulated as early as 1876. However, for this to become a reality, there was a need for social discontent and loss of confidence due to the police role played in the autumn of 2006, which strongly motivated the establishment of the Independent Police Complaints Board. This body was able to conduct complaints proceedings against police measures until 27 February 2020. From that time on, the Commissioner for Fundamental Rights took it over. The tools available to the Commissioner result in significantly stronger control mechanisms than being interpretable in the context of social control. In the event that the Commissioner investigates a complaint against a police measure, he may, in addition to finding an infringement, take all the measures which he may take in the exercise of his general task of protecting fundamental rights. With this, the institution of the right to complain against police measures has been greatly strengthened compared to what was previously seen in the case of the Complaints Board.