Department of Border Policing

The Department of Border Policing was established in response to the socio-political changes of the early 1990s. The Department started its operation at the then Police College in 1992. It prepared commissioned officers for the Border Guard, but the training increasingly included knowledge related to law enforcement and policing.

In 2008 the Border Guard was integrated into the police force, further intensifying the policing aspect of the training.

Among the activities of the Department, a strong emphasis has always been placed on preparing the students for the tasks arising from Hungary’s accession to the Schengen area and for international border policing cooperation.

Since the establishment of the Ludovika University of Public Service in 2012, the Department has been conducting its activities as an organisational unit of the Faculty of Law Enforcement. Its key missions include providing training in border policing and preparing staff for tasks related to European Integrated Border Management, as well as conducting research in this speciality within border policing and publishing its scientific findings.

To make research in this specialised field more efficient, the Department established the Border Policing Innovation Programme Unit.

Head of Unit: Pol. L-Colonel Károly SZABÓ

Head of Department of Border Policing

Dr József Balla PhD, pol. colonel, associate professor started his career as a commissioned officer at the Beregsurány Border Traffic Office in 1997. After that he held various posts at the Budapest Border Guard Directorate and the Police College. Between 2005 and 2015 he worked for the service as head of various departments at the National Headquarters of the Border Guard and the Border Policing Department of the DG for Law Enforcement, National Police Headquarters. He has been working as a teacher at the Department of Border Policing of the Faculty of Law Enforcement, Ludovika University of Public Service since 2015. He has been the head of this Department since 2017. His fields of research are checking security documents for law enforcement purposes, the application of biometric data in the identification of persons for law enforcement purposes and the place and role of border policing in border control. 

Contact Information

Department of Border Policing

Postal address: 1441 Bp. Pf. 60. (P.O. Box)

Office: 1089 Budapest, Diószegi Samuel street 38-42., Law Enforcement Training Building and Dormitory, Floor 3rd, Room Nr. 303.

E-mail: RTK_Hatarrendeszeti_Tanszek@uni-nke.hu

Telephone: 00 36 1 432 9238

Head of Department: Pol. Colonel, Pol. Chief Counsellor, József Balla PhD,  associate professor

Secretariat: Szilvia Bényei Dr. Vedóné (chief secratariat)