Contested Police Systems

German Policy Studies › Vol. 5 Nbr. 2, April 2009

Author: Van Sluis, Arie

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Contested Police Systems

1 Introduction

This issue of German Policy Studies is dedicated to police and policing. To be more precise, the focus is on trends and developments that have taken place in policing and in the police system of Germany, in particular of North Rhine-Westphalia, from a comparative perspective, by analyzing similarities and dissimilarities with changes in the police systems of England, Wales and The Netherlands.

These three countries (or rather, two countries and one German state) have gone through recent reforms to their police systems. All three have been wrestling with the proper arrangements for the organization as well as with steering and controlling their police systems in ways that fit both national, or federal, and local demands, in an effort to improve police performance.

Symposium on police reform at the German Police University

This issue of German Policy Studies is the result of a Symposium on Police Reform in Europe at the German Police University in Münster in February 2009. It was inspired by a comparative research study into the organization and governance of the police in Denmark, Belgium, The Netherlands, Germany (especially North Rhine-Westphalia), England and Wales, funded by the Police and Science Program of the Dutch Police Academy. The results were published in 2009 in Dutch, in a book entitled "Het Betwiste Politiebestel" (The Contested Police System) (Cachet, van Sluis et.al, 2009). The aim was to learn from developme...

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