Viktor TÁTRAI's paper in FONS

On 17 November 1873, "the authorities of Pest, Buda and Old Buda ceased to exist, and the Metropolitan Council was not only established, but actually took over the management of affairs and began its regular operation", and therefore on 2 December 1873, on the motion of the Council, the Metropolitan Assembly designated this day as "the day of the actual unification of the capital"! More pathetically, Budapest celebrates its 150th birthday today!

Articles 20-21 of Act No. 36 of 1872 on the Unification of the Capital City placed the police of the capital under the authority of the Minister of the Interior - the actual handover took place on 15 December 1873 - and therefore works on the history of law and public administration do not usually discuss the history of the Budapest police as part of the history of the capital. From the point of view of urban and social history, however, it is self-evident that the police in the 19th century were a distinctly urban occupational group, their activities had a major impact on the everyday life of the inhabitants of the capital and they were themselves integral members of the fabric of urban society.

Viktor TATRAI has just published A RENDŐRSÉG SZENNYESE. Thaisz Elek bukása és a fővárosi rendőrség bűnügyi osztályának működése 1883-1885, gives an insight into the internal relations of the Metropolitan Police in the first half of the 1880s: the circumstances of the downfall of the famous/infamous chief captain Elek Thaisz and the head of the criminal department, Ferenc Somogyi; the conflicts between the Royal Prosecutor's Office, the Ministry of the Interior and the Chief Police; the careers of some police officers and the initial state of professionalisation of police work.