Branko Lobnikar

The contribution of local safety councils to local responsibility in crime prevention and provision of safety

Purpose – The purpose of the paper is to explore some dimensions of the community policing strategy of the Slovene police, which emphasizes establishment, reinforcement and maintenance of good relations with local communities and new organized ways of setting of priorities in crime prevention and provision of local safety at the local level (i.e. local safety councils). In addition, the paper seeks to present the development of local safety and security efforts in Slovenia based on ideas of making local communities responsible and on partnership in setting priorities in safety/security efforts, prevention of everyday criminal offences and public disorder.Design/methodology/approach – The authors have conducted a study on a sample of 178 representatives of local safety councils in several Slovenian towns. The study focused on the functioning of local safety councils in Slovenia and dealt with advantages and obstacles related to the work of such councils. The authors also reflected on the councils within a ...

Police Integrity in Slovenia

Slovenia is a Central European democracy, independent since 1991. With a population of approximately two million and above 17,000 € gross domestic product (GDP) per capita, it is considered to be quite a successful transitional country from a former socialist republic to a functional democracy. The Slovenian police service employs 8808 personnel, one police officer for every 267 inhabitants. The survey, conducted in spring 2011 on a representative sample of 550 Slovenian police officers, provides an in-depth exploration of police integrity among Slovenian police officers after two decades of Slovene independence and 13 years after the first survey on police integrity with the same methodology was performed. The survey analyzes police integrity from the organizational/occupational culture theory of corrupt behavior perspective. The questionnaire, developed by Klockars and colleagues, consists of 14 hypothetical case scenarios. One of the main findings is that the officers’ own perception of the seriousness of corruption was the most significant determinate of their willingness to report corruption. Expected discipline had no influence on willingness to report corruption. We believe that these results demonstrate a high level of police integrity among police officers in Slovenia. Nevertheless, our results also contain some evidence of the code of silence among the Slovenian police officers.

Managers in suits and managers in uniforms: Sources and outcomes of occupational stress

Sources and outcomes of occupational stress among police managers are examined on a sample of 267 senior police officers in one of the Central European countries, using the Occupational Stress Indicator 2 (OSI 2), the Work Locus of Control Scale, the Hofstedes Scale of Work-Related Values, as well as several demographic variables. The results are then contrasted with those of 232 managers in private industry in the same country. Managers in the private sector work longer hours, report higher impatience (one component of a Type A behaviour pattern), are more internal in locus of control, rely less on social support as a means of coping with stress, and perceive more masculinity, less uncertainty avoidance, and less long-term orientation in their culture than do their police counterparts. Police managers, on the other hand, perceive more pressures related to their workload, relationships, work hassles, recognition and organisational climate. As a consequence, they are less satisfied with the job itself and with their organisation, and more frequently consider an option of quitting their job. At the same time, police managers report better physical wellbeing and higher mental contentment than their colleagues in private industry. The results are discussed in terms of their practical value for police administrators.

Handbook on policing in Central and Eastern Europe

Introduction: Historical Background, Developments, and Challenges of Policing in Central and Eastern Europe.- Country Studies: Policing in Austria, Policing in Bosnia & Herzegovina, Policing in Croatia, Policing in Czech Republic, Policing in Estonia, Policing in Macedonia, Policing in Germany, Policing in Hungary, Policing in Kosovo, Policing in Montenegro, Policing in Russia, Policing in Serbia, Policing in the Slovak Republic, Policing in Slovenia, Policing in the Republic of Srpska.- Conclusion: Trends and Areas for Further Research.

Recent Developments of Policing in Slovenia

The goal of this chapter is to present the development of the Slovenian police and policing from a research perspective over the last two decades. Policing in Slovenia has been characterized by changes towards democratic policing practices, and over the last two decades, it has changed significantly, both in conceptual and formal-organizational terms. One of the main characteristics of significant changes of policing in Slovenia is also a rapid development of police research and support of empirical research on police and policing in police reforms in the country. It is important to understand that after two decades of Slovenian independence, changes in the field of police work are still occurring due to new crime and disorder patterns, as well as recent austerity measures which impact on the quality of policing and social control in general.

The code of silence and female police officers in Slovenia

Purpose – For some time now, research conducted in the field of human behavior and criminology has pertained to the contemporary question as to whether there are any relevant differences between the genders regarding their integrity and opinions held and, if so, which of these lead to different behaviors. The purpose of this paper is to determine whether there are any gender differences in willingness to report police misconduct and if so, what is the nature of these differences. Design/methodology/approach – In spring 2011, the study was conducted on a representative sample of 408 frontline Slovenian police officers (87.3 percent were male and 12.7 percent were female). The assessment of the code of silence was conducted using the method developed by Klockars and Kutnjak Ivkovic (2004), and consisted of 14 hypothetical scenarios describing a range of various forms of police misconduct, from those that merely give the appearance of a conflict of interest, to incidents of bribery and theft. One of the ques...

Perception of police corruption and the level of integrity among Slovenian police officers

The survey of police integrity was conducted on the representative sample of 550 Slovenian police officers. The measurement was developed by Kutnjak Ivković and Klockarson the basis of 14 hypothetical case scenarios which describe different forms of police misconduct (i.e. conflict of interests, bribery, and theft). The results of this study demonstrate a high level of self-reported police integrity strictly connected to the code of silence into police community. As a result, anti-corruption strategies are most likely to be successful if they are directed at changing perceptions and moral believes about seriousness of corruptive conducts.

Slovenian State Officials. Slovenian Citizens, and Refugees in Slovenia: How They Perceive Each Other

In September 1991, Slovenia faced the first wave of approximately 50,000 refugees from Croatia. The second wave of Bosnian refugees followed in the beginning of 1992. In total, there were approximately 170,000 refugees in Slovenia between 1992 and 1996. In 1994, the majority of Croatian refugees returned to Croatia, and after the Dayton agreement some 19,000 refugees from Bosnia and Herzegovina returned to their country of origin, as well. A smaller number of refugees from Kosovo came to Slovenia in 1998. Currently, there are approximately 7,000 refugees still in Slovenia, the majority of them from Bosnia and Herzegovina. In every country, the presence of the refugees induces a host of different issues, determined largely by attitudes and perceptions, both of the domestic population and the refugees themselves. In this paper, we would like to present some results of different studies on refugees-related attitudes and perceptions, which were conducted at the College of Police and Security Studies, Ljubljana, Slovenia.

Do We Trust Them? Public Opinion on Police Work in Plural Policing Environments in Central and Eastern Europe

Although there are many studies in the field of public confidence in authorities in the West, this is still not the case in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe. Moreover governments and police forces lack awareness that their performance is based not only on the effective investigation of criminal offenses and maintenance of public order but also on the adoption, support, and trust that citizens show toward the police as well as toward other stakeholders of the expanding security/police community. The purpose of this chapter is to analyze existing research findings on public confidence in policing bodies from the countries of Central and Eastern Europe and to draw attention to gaps that still exist in this field that are typical for countries in transition.

Policing a multicultural community: a case study of the Roma community in northeastern Slovenia

The authors analyze the level of implementation of community policing in Slovenia from the point of view of four sets: quality of police contact, perception level of crime and disorder, fear of victimization, and the level of community cohesion. The first part of the report presents the results of the research carried out on a sample of 51 members of the Roma community and 161 members of the non-Roma community in the municipality of Lendava in the northeastern Pomurje region of Slovenia. The results show that the implementation of community policing in the multicultural community studied was slightly above average, whereas statistically significant differences between the Roma and non-Roma population regarding community cohesion and perception of crime and disorder were discovered. Respondents from the Roma community reported perceiving disorder and crime in their environment less frequently, but they are less integrated into the community they live in compared to the non-Roma respondents.