Law enforcement in Hungary

Nevertheless, it is a fact that the officers employed and the functions carried out by the service existed earlier mainly within the frameworks of the National Police under the name of "Terrorelhárító Szolgálat" (Counter Terrorism Service), they were only centralised into an autonomous police force under the direct control of the Ministry of the Interior, not causing essential changes in the structure and operation of Hungarian law enforcement, only the organisational frameworks changed to some extent.

The National Protective Service is a special police force under the direct control of the Minister of the Interior, with nationwide jurisdiction, mainly dealing with anti-corruption activities within the government sphere.

The service can collect information about any government officials, including their private life or law enforcement officers in Hungary, even testing their reliability by making a false attempt to bribe them.

Although the force is also often criticised by the media of the political opposition as "resembling the secret police services of the era of the communistic dictatorship", it should be mentioned that similar anti-corruption organisation exist in nearly all member states of the European Union, and its preceding agency the Rendészeti Szervek Védelmi Szolgálata (Protective Service of Law Enforcement Agencies) had nearly the same jurisdiction over the uniformed officers employed by the government, its jurisdiction was only extended to the civilian officials employed by ministries and other government organs, and considering the high rates of corruption in Hungary, the existence operation of the service seems to be necessary.

Since the service was established, the corruption within the public sphere in Hungary including law enforcement agencies decreased to some extent.

It is a background organisation that provides the technical equipment to collect information about or to intercept someone if ordered by the Police, a court judge, the Public Prosecutor's Office or other authorities.

The most widespread form of local police organisations is the "Közterület-felügyelet" (usually translated as Public Space Supervision Authority) which can be found in the capital and larger towns in the country.