What About the Police?

After driving more than 100,000 kilometers in Hungary I have been stopped many times by the police and have my own stories to tell. I will say openly and publicly that I have yet to meet a policeman that is like the ones they talk about in the jokes. But I have found something very interesting. The Hungarian policeman may often be a human more than an official.

In the eighties a series of films titled, Robocop played in the cinemas. The hero was a robot policeman with a small piece of human brain stem within. This made him the automatic law enforcer even though a very tiny part of humanity remained in him. He was flawless and official as he enforced the law and did his duty with a cold professionality that made the bad guys fear. Throughout the USA and Northern Europe the police often resemble the Robocop character. Even in some of the Mediterranean countries the Guarda Civil of Spain or the Carbinieri of Northern Italy are known to enforce any infraction a driver may commit on the highways they rule as absolute dictators.

When they stop a driver they carry out their duties officially and efficiently, rarely allowing personal feelings or sympathy to interfere with the execution of their duty. Once in a while there is an exception. Some are known to have feelings for women and children. Once in California, a policeman stopped my wife and was ready to write her up for an infraction. My then four - year - old son asked, “Mommy, is this the brave policeman that shoots the bad guys?” The policeman could not help laughing and let her go on that rare occasion. In the United States it would be good advice for every driver to take an inquisitive four-year-old along for the journey through police infested highways!

Because the Hungarian police are human they show both sides of their humanity. One side they show is that they are part of a system that has not caught up with the modern computerized world and sometimes as they carry out their duties, chaos occurs.

The following account is from the December 6-12, 2001 edition of the Budapest Sun:
Names and locations are not given so that if I pass through that district I do not have to worry about retribution from the very Hungarian police.

The title of the article is, “Police fail to return driver’s papers”
By: Beata Olah, Sun staff:

A British expat fears some of her car documentation has been lost by the police four weeks after the papers were confiscated and she was told the documents would be returned in the post.

Alison Davey’s (name changed) papers were during a routine police check at (place not named) utca on November 7.

“I drive a car which has V plates and is three years old.” Alison said. “I feel I was targeted because of my V plates.”

She said she was the middle car of three waiting at traffic lights and the officers ignored the Hungarian plated vehicles in front and behind.

It appeared that the certificate of roadworthiness of her vehicle had expired two weeks earlier and the police took the documents away.

“Since all the other documents were in order I would have thought a more reasonable response would have been for the police to advise on where and how to renew the certificate immediately and give written details together with a payment slip for a fine.” - said Alison.

“I was left wondering how to retrieve my papers and then where to take the car for its checks.”

She added, “My husband’s office has tried to resolve the matter on my behalf and has contacted the police and the local authorities, but no one seems to know exactly where my car papers are now. They have not been sent back four weeks later and my car has been off the road all this time.”

A spokesman at the communications department of Budapest Police (BRFK) said they did not yet know the whereabouts of the papers.

What do you think my Hungarian reader, are you surprised?

First of all, the policemen who made the stop were within the law and obligations of the Hungarian system. Whether or not the policemen stopped the woman because she was a foreigner with V plates they were within the rules of the system. The system also requires that if the technical inspection is not in order the police must confiscate the auto papers. The woman’s opinion, “Since all the other documents were in order I would have thought a more reasonable response would have been for the police to advise on where and how to renew the certificate immediately and give written details together with a payment slip for a fine.” May be reasonable from her point of view that comes from the British system, but that is not how things work in Hungary.

This brings out the big question. What is the bigger problem, the police or the system in which they work?

Those who come from Western Europe or the United States will notice some things about the system in Hungary that are completely different than their own.

First of all is the control stop. In Western Europe and in the United States the police will only stop a driver if they do something wrong. There are no control stops in those places. In Hungary, if they are stopped for control, they will often be indignant simply because they don’t understand why they should be stopped.

Another problem is that the laws are unrealistic and too stern. For example, it seems that the zero alcohol tolerance law would prevent people from driving under the influence of alcohol. Most countries in Western Europe and the United States allow a minimum alcohol tolerance. It would allow someone to have at least a glass of wine or one beer and still drive under the law.

However, in Hungary, if someone drinks one beer, or a glass of wine, they are already guilty of a very serious infraction which if enforced according to the written law (this is a big if) it entails a very steep fine as well as losing one’s drivers license. So what happens of someone drinks a beer or a glass of wine at dinner as a guest of someone? Since they will be guilty anyway, why not drink more? The severity of the law assumes that people will be out of control so it prohibits any consumption at all. Could it be that a law that is more in line with other European countries may actually encourage people to drink more responsibly?

Road fines are also severe. Moving violations not only carry a fine that is very hard to bear on Hungarian salaries but also the driver will have his or her license taken away for a while. This creates a situation for a simple mistake, such as passing 100 meters before the solid line becomes broken an unbearable burden for many Hungarian drivers. They already pay an incredibly unreasonable amount to drive in Hungary. Toll roads and petrol prices compare or exceed other countries in Europe but their income comes to no where near the others in Western Europe. In the case of M5 highway, Hungarians pay one of the highest road tolls anywhere in the world per kilometer.

This author’s opinion is that the human Hungarian police try to do their job in an inhuman system. If we look at the human police in the system in which they work it may explain what put this woman in her predicament. First of all, it is obvious that this woman was indignant about what happened to her and she was absolutely frustrated with the system. Could it be that the police, who seemed to have stopped her because of her V plates also felt her indignant attitude and responded to it? Once I interviewed a policeman in a pub and asked him why they stop foreign plate cars more than other cars. His answer was. “Because their pockets are full of money.”

The system that may lend itself to human error may also cause the police to show human virtue in the face of unrealistic and stern laws they must figure out how to enforce.

Hungarians are problem solvers that may often find a colored rather than black and white solution to human problems. We can assume a policeman stops a driver and though he has obviously broken the law, the policeman sees that he is in a difficult situation. The policeman may see that he himself may have committed the same infraction. If he feels sympathy and mercy for the driver it makes it extremely difficult to place on this driver consequences that the policeman himself may have difficulty with if in the same situation.

In the “Robocop” countries, the solution is simple. The policeman writes a ticket, and the driver either pays the fine or contests the ticket in court. The fine may be high, but usually the driver can absorb the cost on his Western income.

The Hungarian policeman will often ask questions, and try and see what kind of person he is dealing with. If the policeman really has a sympathetic feeling for the person, he may warn the person and release the driver. If the person is a decent and normal person then some policemen at times will work out another solution. The other solution will lighten the burden on the driver, but also enforce some kind of penalty for the infraction. At times the driver will pay a “fine on the spot without a receipt.”

Since the Hungarian Police receive a salary of about one – eighth of their colleagues in the west, they see this as the best solution for both the driver and the policeman.

This brings up another issue; the opportunity for police corruption. Anyone would be extremely naïve to assume that greed plays no part in such a situation. It may even be the case that some policemen may seek these situations out. However, those who complain about police corruption in Hungary need to understand the two things that contribute to this problem.

First, the control stop is an unnecessary a facilitator to corrupt policemen seeking for something wrong that they may force people to pay something- either an official ticket or a bribe. Second, the laws are too strict, unrealistic and very difficult to enforce. The fines are way out of proportion with Hungarian incomes. Therefore, the existing system practically creates a need for this third way of escape.

Another problem with the system causes police to often take another solution. Petty thieves and pickpockets roam the trams and metro stops and victimize people- often women and children. The system is not always able to keep them off the streets and at times the police will administer justice on the spot to keep them under control. Just like the traffic system this can also invite abuse. There was a recent scandal of a group of police that beat up a group of homeless people in a metro stop. The official statement of the police department was that this kind of retribution is not allowed and of course, this kind of abuse should not happen.

Are Hungarian policemen brutal? Are they corrupt? Or are they human, in a situation and system that forces them to display their humanity with both human virtue and at times, human weakness? You be the judge, my Hungarian reader.

In spite of this difficult system, there are many Hungarian policemen who are correct and still reasonable. Those with whom I have made contact that act in a correct manner are also professional, yet they still can be merciful to a driver in a difficult circumstance.

The following anecdotes are true accounts of interaction with human Hungarian policemen by foreigners throughout the roads of Hungary:

One American missionary was also a jazz musician. He committed a traffic violation and a policeman stopped him. The policeman also asked to look in the trunk in a routine control while he was enforcing the infraction. The American did not speak Hungarian very well, but was fluent in German. The policemen spoke Hungarian very well but he also spoke German and they communicated in this language. When the policemen saw the missionary’s trumpet in the trunk of the car he asked him about it. It just so happened that the policeman was a jazz pianist! They talked jazz for a while and the policeman let the missionary go without paying a fine.

Another one happened as a policeman stopped a foreigner who speaks Hungarian for crossing a railroad track at over 60 kph when the speed limit is 40. He was ready to give a fine, (official or on the spot, who knows?) when the driver saw that he had big knuckles. The driver asked him, “What happened to your knuckles?” He said, “I am a kickboxer!” The driver asked him to show his knuckles, and demonstrate some of his kickboxing moves. The policeman not only showed him, but also proudly said, “I took third in a national competition!” The driver congratulated him and shook his hand. The policeman let him go without a fine.

A Spanish man was in a borrowed car and did not know the gear-shifting pattern in his friend’s auto. He was coming out of a parking garage downtown and mistakenly went in reverse instead of forward. He almost hit the police car behind him till the policeman honked. He then went forward in a “T“ street where there is a pedestrian crossing but not a traffic crossing. The Spanish driver went through and the policemen stopped him. They told him he went through a red light and would have to pay a fine.

The Spaniard said that that was a pedestrian light, not a traffic light and therefore it was legal to go ahead if the road was clear. He refused to pay or accept a ticket. There was a big argument on the street between them and the Spaniard said he would go to see the Captain, even if he had to go in handcuffs. Along side the two policemen in uniform, five plainclothes policemen came to back them up. The driver yelled out, “What is with you Hungarians? Why do you need seven cops to deal with one poor Spaniard?” The policemen broke out laughing and let the man go!

Another situation happened with the Spaniard. He drove a car with foreign plates and needed to get temporary insurance for driving in Hungary. He got to the insurance office too late and since it was closed he had to go from Budapest to the Slovakian border to buy insurance. He was once again very nervous because nothing went well for him that day. A policeman stopped him and asked for the paperwork. When the policeman saw that the insurance expired, he told the Spanish driver that he could not go any further without insurance. The Spaniard yelled out, this has been such a bad day and now I can’t even drive to the border to get my insurance! Since you took all of my documents, you might as well take the car also!” He put the keys in the policeman’s pocket and turned and walked away. The policeman chased behind him and said, “Sir, why do you have to be so hysterical? Here, take your papers, and go get your insurance. But do not let this happen again! We have laws too, you know.”

Finally, this incident happened to me. I was caught on radar going 85 kph on the Buda Rakpart (the shore drive along the Danube). When the policeman stopped me he showed me the radar reading. I said to the policeman, “You know your job. Thank you for stopping me. You might have saved my life. Because I am in too much of a hurry I might have caused an accident. You are right, I was really in the wrong!” The policeman replied, “You weren’t that bad! Slow down.” He was kind enough to let me go.

So what do the police jokes reveal? The jokes about the police show that whether or not it is deserved, policemen suffer a respect crisis. This was once the case in New York until the attack on the world trade center. Some New Yorkers would refer to the police as brutal and at times, corruptible. They would say in quotation marks, “New York’s finest.” On September 11, 2001, the great test came and they were called to duty. Thirty-eight policemen lost their lives in their duty to serve and protect, while they were involved in rescuing people. In one situation, the clean – up crew found the body of a policeman who died while carrying a victim on his back when the tower collapsed on them. This sacrifice brought on a general feeling of reconciliation between many citizens of New York and their police. It also brought a sense of reconciliation in the strained relationship between the police and fire department as they worked and died side by side to rescue victims of a heinous crime.

I personally experienced how a policeman in Budapest felt this crisis of respect between citizens of Hungary and their police. On Rákóczi út a policeman stopped me for being in the right hand bus lane. My argument was that I signaled a right hand turn and it was necessary for me to be in the lane to make a right hand turn. When he heard my argument, the policeman gave me back my documents and had sadness in his eyes, almost to the point of tears. He said, “I know, I am a policeman, I am a zero.”

Part of the reason the police lack respect is simply because they are part of a system that has made them to be more human than official. Hopefully a great disaster will not be necessary to better reconcile the respect crisis between Hungarians and their human police. It is this author’s opinion that some changes in the system would help. If police are lifted from the points of temptation to the darker side of their humanity it is my hope that the Hungarian police would still retain the warm side of their humanity.

What does the Bible say about showing respect for those who have the kind of authority over people that the police do? In the time that Paul the apostle wrote a letter to a church in Rome, a very corrupt and brutal system was in place. Roman soldiers and authorities that lived on bribes and extortion enforced the law and ruled over the people in contact with their daily lives.

“For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be fee from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and he will commend you. But if you do, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword for nothing. He is God’s servant, an agent of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer. Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but because of conscience.” St. Paul’s Letter to the Romans, Chapter 13: verses 3-5 New International Version

Simply put it is practical advice. Though they may be far from perfect, they still restrain the worst evil of society. The order the police keep may be imperfect, but it is necessary. What is your opinion?

Hungarian culture, police, policemen