Theoretical concepts of relationship between the police and the law

Abstract

The paper points out the principle issues concerning the relationship between the police and the law, such as: whether the police should be treated as bear executor of legal provisions and 'tool' of the law, or as a relatively autonomous subject of its enforcement; question to which extent and in which way the law determines police practice and what is the real law's influence on it. The paper then analyses main theoretical concepts that deal with the above-mentioned questions, above all legalistic and birocratic, culturalistic and structuralistic notions. The paper also points the stands of the most important representatives of all three groups of theories and gives their critical overview.

U radu se, najpre, ističu načelna pitanja odnosa policije i prava, kao što je pitanje da li policiju treba tretirati kao pukog izvršioca pravnih propisa i 'oruđe' prava, ili kao relativno autonomnog subjekta njegove primene, zatim pitanje u kojoj meri i na koji način pravo determiniše policijsku praksu i kakav je realan uticaj prava na nju. U radu se, zatim, analiziraju osnovni teorijski koncepti koji se bave pomenutim pitanjima i odnosom policije i prava, pre svega, legalističko- birokratsko, kulturalističko i strukturalističko shvatanje, ukazuje se na stavove najznačajnijih predstavnika sve tri grupe teorija i daje njihov kritički prikaz.