Field Excursion #10: There is a Difference between ILEA and IKEA!

       This week the gang and took a trip to the International Law Enforcement Academy (ILEA) in Budapest. It was another interesting experience, and it was a chance to learn how different countries cooperate to coordinate training to help make the world a safer place. The Academy was located on the Buda side of the city, and its brick façade and green courtyards reminded me of a small University in New England. Upon entry we were met with another amiable bald man (coincidence- I think not!), Mr. Tom Stocking, who is the deputy director of the Budapest Academy. We were given a tour of the facilities and then were given an opportunity to sit down with several prominent members of the ILEA staff to learn the ins and outs of the organization. We also were given free pens, so overall it was a productive and educational day!

                                            Who doesn't love free pens?!?

       The academy itself was quite unique and unlike anything I had ever been too before. They take in students from all over Central and Eastern Europe, and they have to have the proper facilities in place to ensure every participant can make the most out of their experience. Mr. Stocking took us on a tour of the campus and showed us where the future policemen and women eat, live, learn, train, and work-out. He talked about how it was important to make them all feel as comfortable as possible to ensure high-morale throughout the campus. Towards the end of the tour he took us to a “simulation room”, where the students practice real-life police work scenarios. We stood on a catwalk overlooking the simulation room, and we had a bird’s eye view of all the different rooms and scenarios that the students must go through during their different training exercises. Mr. Stocking said that this is the most exciting part of the training for the cadets and that they enjoy it much more than they enjoy their classes (hard to believe). After, we were taken to one of the Academy’s classrooms, where the educational portion of our visit began.

                                                           This is the logo for ILEA!

                                                                

        In the classroom we listened to presentations from several important members of the ILEA staff. First up to bat was Mr. Stocking, who told us about his personal background and the details of what actually goes on at the academy. Stocking is an employee of the US State Department, and he and his superiors are on a three year assignment at the academy. In the 1990’s he worked as part of the security details for Clinton’s Secretaries of State Warren Christopher and Madeline Albright. He explained how the State Department staffs security in embassies all over the world, while also working on international crime such as passport and visa fraud cases. When he was done speaking one of his colleagues known as “Tibby” rocked the mic and explained to us his role in the organization. Tibby is a Hungarian born employee of the State Department who has been working with them since the early 1990’s. He grew up in Communist Hungary and explained to us the many turmoils and difficulties of his parent’s generation. He said that this turmoil in Hungary and its surrounding countries lead to a culture that desperately needed a strong and capable police network. He said that in some countries the phrase “A wife unbeaten is like a home unkept” was not the exception, but rather commonplace. Organizations like ILEA were desperately needed in order to train men and women who can try to change the culture and enforce the law. This goes to the show the importance of having capable and well-trained civil officers if one desires to live in a safe environment. We often complain about the police and perhaps it is sometimes deserved, but we are extremely lucky to live in a place where policemen and women are able and willing to uphold the rule of law.

                                    Don't want to forget the work of the police dogs as well!

          Towards the end of the presentation the Director of the Academy Mr. John Terpinas spoke with us briefly about his background and role in the organization. Terpinas is a United States citizen and employee of the FBI who like Mr. Stocking, is on a three-year assignment. He was an extremely cordial and intelligent character who just so happens to come from Greek ancestry (hmmmmm). We talked at length on how to get involved in his line of work and what federal agencies look for in perspective candidates. Although I personally don’t desire a career in the ol’ FBI I did feel that Mr. Terpinas did a very good job of explaining the perks of his profession and the important tasks the agency carries out. He also issued the shocking revelation that if one wants to work for the Federal Bureau of Investigation it would be wise for them to stay out of trouble. I left the presentation with a renewed sense of the importance America can play in the rest of the world when we put our best foot forward. Agencies such as ILEA promote good and undoubtedly make the world a better place. Some may disagree, but I firmly believe that America has a moral obligation to help improve the quality of life of people who are not as privileged as us. Obviously one could take this as justification for actions such as the invasion of Iraq but not everything America does will work out in its favor. Mr. Stocking stressed to us the importance of America’s role in the world, and he pleaded with us to make sure that international agencies and other foreign services are always part of the political discourse (perhaps instead of talking about who Hermann Cain groped this week and if Mitt Romney is actually half-robot). I agree thoroughly with him and I hope that our generation will continue to spread America’s (good) influence abroad through great organizations such as ILEA.

          

   This is the song "American Tune" by Paul Simon. It is his analysis of America and where is was heading in the 1970's. He expressed sorrow over its failures (Vietnam), but optimism that the US could still remain a force of good in the world.

Field Excursion #9: The JSPB Boys and Girls are brought in to solve Europe’s Problems

          This week the gang and I had the privilege to sit down with Mr. Andras Bath, a prominent member of the European Commission. Mr. Bath was born and raised in Hungary, and now works in Brussels at the EU’s headquarters. Out of all of the guest lecturers we have met with this semester, I felt Mr. Bath was the best one. He was charismatic, amiable, intelligent, and most importantly genuine. Mr. Bath did not shy away from the “hardball” questions that the JSBP kids are known for, and he answered all of our questions with an honesty that one seldom sees from a high-ranking person talking to a group of twenty-something’s. One of the reasons I think this may be is because he was a bald man, and as Larry David would say, “Bald men are just more trustworthy”. On the other hand I think he was just a good guy who wanted to help us better understand what is going on in Europe; and he realized the best way to do so was to spell out the EU’s strengths and weaknesses as accurately and thoughtfully as possible.

              I wanted to put a video clip of Larry David, but I couldn't find any that weren't vulgar.

                                                        This will have to do.                    

         

           During the first part of the lecture Mr. Bath explained to us what exactly the EU is and why it was formed in the first place. It is similar to the UN in the sense that it is one organized body made up of many “member states” that have power within the organization based on size and economic power. However, it is different from the UN because all the countries involved are closely connected socially, politically, and (perhaps most importantly) economically. He explained about the desire in Europe throughout the twentieth century to create a common ground for all the countries to work together to make Europe as prosperous as possible. One point that he made which I found particularly interesting and had not heard before was the fact that since the creation of the EU there has been no wars between member states. This is extremely noteworthy because of the history of violent conflict in Europe that dates back centuries. On a global scale the EU gives Europe a chance to compete economically, which none of the member states could do on their own because of their small size. Together, they make a big enough economy to compete on a world scale. This seems like a nice idea in principle, but as Mr. Bath soon explained things there are some extreme flaws in the economic makeup of the EU.

      

                  This is a map of the EU and its member states with their respective flags.

           The talk with Mr. Bath couldn’t have come at a more appropriate time. One cannot turn on the news right now without being bombarded by a plethora of stories about the EU-euro crisis and Greece’s glaring economic woes. President Obama is currently at the G-20 summit in France trying to help “save” Europe, and the whole world’s attention is focused on the continent that we currently call home. As I said earlier Mr. Bath is employed in an organization that is part of the EU, and he stressed its importance in certain realms throughout his talk. Yet what surprised me was that he was more than willing to be critical of the economic policies of the EU that have lead to this disaster. He explained to us that one of the biggest problems the EU has had is that there is no strong federal regulating body to oversee (and punish if necessary) the ins and outs of every member state’s economies. The United States is similar to the EU in the sense it is large and full of extremely diverse geographic and economic regions. However, the difference is that the US federal government has the power to regulate industry, trade, commerce, taxes and many other economic tools in order to make sure the discrepancies between states does not become so bad it can bring the entire country’s economy to a halt (ex.-Greece).  This is not to say that the US doesn’t have its own (glaring) economic problems, but rather that it does have ways to regulate the economy from a federal level.

            Future US President Rick Perry hates the federal government and its regulatory policies, but he should realize there are good reasons to have a strong federal body to regulate commerce. He should also realize that one shouldn't insult something that they are campaigning to be the head of.

     


            Since the EU does not have the proper oversight institutions in place, they were in many ways doomed from the start. Mr. Bath claimed that part of the reason Greece is in such shambles is because they sent in false documents and numbers in order to gain acceptance in the EU. He claimed they were not strong enough to be emitted into the EU to begin with, and therefore the mess we see today was a ticking time bomb. The easy thing to do would be to put the blame soley on the Greeks (although I do agree they are largely to blame), but we must give the EU some blame for not being strong enough to catch their bluff! If the EU had any competent oversight agency they would have been able to look at Greece’s numbers and saw the discrepancies between the truth and what the Greeks reported. Instead the EU essentially “took Greece’s word” and just assumed that all countries are good and honest and would never embellish the truth to gain entry into their Union (somewhat idiotic if you ask me). Mr. Bath pointed out that one of the reasons this happened was that the Euro zone idea was created too quickly and essentially rushed into existence. The EU was so eager to create the inter-continental currency that they put forth a product that still had a lot of kinks in it. Obviously economies are complex and difficult to predict, but a little more time and foresight may have prevented the mess we see before us today.

                  While people are blaming Greece for all the world's problems, they seem to forget the many Greeks that have made the world a better place. Imagine a world without Socrates? How about one without 14-time major champion Pete Sampras? How about one without Yanni, who is essentially the Elvis Presley of our generation? And who doesn't love Jennifer Aniston and my namesake, Alexander the Great?

Field Excursion #8- Geneva: The UN, Switzerland, and 11.6

                                                         GENEVA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Earlier this week we had the privilege to visit the lovely city of Geneva, Switzerland. We all boarded a plane around noon Monday and were in the city in no time; ready to show the Swiss people what the Justice Studies in Budapest Program is all about. The reason for our trip was to visit two UN offices located in Geneva, UNEP (United Nations Environmental Programme) and UNHCR (The UN Refugee agency). This gave us a very rare experience to be able to meet face to face with important people from all over the globe who are very esteemed and experienced in their respective fields.

The logo to the UN Environmental Programme 

           

          After eating about seven baguettes and forty-five croissants we set out Tuesday morning to the UNEP offices in downtown Geneva. When we arrived we saw a schedule for the day’s festivities, and you’re not going to believe this, but we were on the schedule! We entered the meeting room and were greeted by two distinguished women in their fields, Angela Cropper and Barbara Ruis. Mrs. Cropper is the Deputy Executive of UNEP, which is essentially the second in command for the entire organization. Mrs. Ruis was a long-term employee of the UNEP offices who also had spent considerable time working as a professor and working in other UN agencies. They were both extremely amiable and intelligent, and they spoke with us in a very frank manner. They let us dictate the meeting with our own questions and curiosities, and they did not shy away from answering the “tough” questions the JSPB program is known for.

                                          The Justice Studies boys and girls can handle the truth!

             We talked for a somewhat lengthy time and the entire presentation was interesting, yet as always there were several key take away points that really stood out to me. One was Mrs. Ruis’ comments about how she felt guilty about the fact that she worked for an environmental organization yet was constantly flying to different locations around the world, and therefore creating a very sizeable “carbon footprint”. She also pointed out that one of the troubles about working with the different environmental ministries around the world was that quite often they are on the bottom end of the ol’ totem pole in their respective countries’ government. I felt that was a good point because more than likely if you asked the average American who the head of the EPA is (Lisa Jackson), they would have no idea and perhaps rightfully so due to the somewhat ceremonial aspects of the position. Mrs. Cropper spoke about the paths countries must take to work towards a “green economy”, and the different costs and benefits of doing so. I myself asked a somewhat ambiguous question regarding the wastefulness of major cities and the perils of over-population and over-industrialization, She answered the question very thoughtfully and did not dodge the major issues that the world’s ever-growing population presents to the world’s geography and availability of resources. She pointed out that cities can be environmentally friendly and energy efficient if they are built in a proper and precise manner. She also said that environmental groups are aware of the problems that over-population may place on the world, but they are working on figuring out where these problems will surface the most and how to combat them in the most efficient manner possible.

            

                                        This is a video by the one and only Cat Stevens called, "Where do the Children Play". It deals with the ideas that over-industrialization can make us forget about the simple things that make life worth living.

After a quick lunch in the infamous UNEP cafeteria, we set upon the offices of the UNHCR (The UN refugee Agency). I was extremely excited for this because I am involved and interested in the plights of displaces and disadvantaged people in Uganda and the Congo and I hoped that the speaker may offer some insights as to how the agency was dealing with these agencies. The speaker’s name was Semih Bulbut, and he was a Turkish man who had been working with the agency for a very long time. He spoke at length about the definition of a refugee and what he and his agency does on a daily basis. Although he did not go into specific details about disaster relief scenarios, he was very esteemed and cordial and his talk did have some interesting moments. Towards the end of his talk he spoke about relief efforts in Iraq since the start of the US occupation in 2003. It was interesting how he described the fact that the US donates more money than any other country to the UN’s disaster relief efforts, but in this case we are the ones responsible for the disaster! With that being said I sensed no tone of anger or resentment from Bulbut, in fact he told us that he hopes to one day see us working in his office side-by-side to help better the cause of humanity!

Field Excursion #7: Talkin' with important people is cool

         This week the gang and I had the privilege to meet with Dr. Attila Nyikos, who is the head of Hungary’s National Disaster Management International Relations department. We were able to better understand how the Hungarian government (and all governments) coordinates disaster relief, cleanup, and prevention efforts. Mr. Nyikos is one of those people who just look important, and he was wearing a suit coat with jeans which is a bold look no matter where you are in the world. He started out by explaining to us exactly what his agency was and what it did. He compared it to FEMA in the states, except his department is larger in scale and includes civil positions such as firefighters. He also spoke about the disaster management in depth, explaining that law enforcement and civil duty are the two cornerstones of successful disaster relief and management efforts.

                     This is a photo of Mr. Nyikos. I found this image on google, so you know he's important!

     Mr. Nyikos described the basic system that disaster management follows. It follows three basic pillars: Prevention, Response, and Recovery. He explained that like any country there are many different types of disaster scenarios that Hungary could be vulnerable to, and it was his offices duty to be prepared for whatever may happen. These include but are not limited to natural disasters, flooding, pollution of water supplies, and the maintaining of nuclear power plants. He also explained the different challenges his department faced over the last ten years. These include terrorism, heat waves, heavy rainfall, and the now infamous red sludge incident.

           

One of the most interesting parts of the talk was his description of his role in Hungary’s Presidency of the EU last spring. He explained that during Hungary’s presidency he took over the EU’s office of Disaster Management. This means that during this time he presided over the safety of the over 485 million people living in the EU member states. He also described the EU’s Mechanism Operations during this time, and they included helping the United States with the gulf oil “deep water horizon” incident, along with the massive tsunami in Japan. He described how his organization sent tons of food to Japan including dried soup, apples, and apricots. He acknowledged how awkward it was that apricots were one the things sent, but he insisted upon the fact that the Japanese people had requested them. One of the boldest things he said was that during the crisis Japan lied to both its people and the rest of the world regarding radiation levels in the inflicted areas!

          This is a photo of some of the damage done by the red-sludge incident in October, 2010. This was an extremely difficult clean-up process for Mr. Nyikos and his organization. 

   The talk was extremely interesting and educational and I think everyone took away valuable information regarding how government agencies coordinate disaster relief efforts. However, I had mixed feeling regarding Mr. Nyikos as a speaker. In one regard he was extremely smart and clearly very distinguished for his young age. On the other hand he at points came off as smug and somewhat full of himself; essentially he was not afraid to toot his own horn. I also felt that his answers to our questions were extremely dubious. For instance, I asked him what the Hungarian people’s response to the disaster was and he responded, “extremely positive”. Now I don’t want to call him a liar, but I highly doubt that a large majority of the Hungarian people were too happy with the government and its cleanup agencies after the red-sludge incident. This is not to imply that Mr. Nyikos and his agency didn’t do a good job, but rather that anytime an environmental disaster occurs the people will inevitably blame the government. On top of that, several Hungarians we have met have expressed their displeasure with the whole incident and the government’s handling of it. Yet as a whole, the presentation was both informative and entertaining and gave us a different perspective on things from a person who is very distinguished in his field.

                     I would hope that Mike Brown and W wouldn't say that the public response to their handling of Katrina was "extremely positive"

Photos from Vienna

                                         

Photo Blog-Budapest

Hey everyone,
I know this is long overdue but I want to add some photos of  Budapest and all the places we've been to so far. So in the next couple of days I'm going to add some photos from the city, Vienna, Munich, and Amsterdam. This is part one-Budapest, hope you enjoy!

                           This is the courtyard of our home on 3 Benzcur Utca. Budapest, Hungary

                                 The side view of a centuries old church near our building

                                       The left side of the Heroes Square Monument

                                             Old communist statue of Lenin

                                                    A massive/bizarre Soviet Statue

                                      The next few photos are of the city, taken from atop the Citadel monument hill which gives one an entire view of the city

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                                            Me on an old WWII machine gun turret

                                             View of Buda (left) and Pest (right)

         The Famous Chain Bridge, the first bridge ever built connecting the two sides of the city

Field Excursion #6: The boys and girls meet a man who works for the Man

          This week the gang and I met with the venerable Dr. Lajos Korona, a lawyer who works in Budapest’s metropolitan public prosecutor’s office. For about an hour he shared with us the details of his profession and we were able to ask him questions to learn exactly how the prosecutor’s office of Budapest operates. Dr. Lajos Korona was an extremely amiable character and to quote “Tito” Wasiuk he was one fly-dressed cat.
         

            The prosecutor’s office in Budapest consists of many levels and branches, which each have different jobs and jurisdictions. Dr. Korona’s office deals with crimes of a more serious nature such as homicide or other violent acts, drug crimes, and high-scale property crimes. He explained to us the process in which a supposed crime goes from the initial police interrogation to a submitted plan with questions to ask the suspect for the prosecutor. He oversees the investigations of the police and makes sure that all the procedural rules are followed to ensure the prosecution is obeying the law and putting forth a good case for conviction. What is interesting is that Dr. Korona is not obliged to spend any time at trial at all, for that aspect of the case is handled by a different branch of the prosecutor’s office. Essentially Korana’s office works to ensure that the best case is brought to trial, and they do all the pre-trial work and then just simply pass it on to the trial prosecutor. I would argue that Mr. Korana’s job is more important than the trial prosecutor, because if evidence is not collected properly and witnesses are not asked the right questions pre-trial than the trial itself. Essentially there is no chance of a conviction unless Mr. Korona’s office puts forth a good case. 

          Sadly for this woman Dr. Korona doesn't wear a uniform, but rather oversees the men    who do.

Another important aspect of his job is to kind of “oversee” the Renderseg (Hungarian police for all you Americans) and make sure they are following the proper procedural rules and are not participating in any unethical behavior. Dr. Korona explained that very seldom do they find any evidence of police corruption, and that when it is done it is often an isolated incident. This is somewhat contrary to what we’ve been told about the police from some Budapest natives. One gentleman we met told us that the police are often times corrupt and take bribes and break procedural rules. This man who told us this had actually worked in a police station as a clerk and said he had experienced several incidents of police corruption first-hand. When I heard Mr. Korona say that corruption wasn’t a big issue, I instantly thought to myself that one of them might be not telling the truth. Maybe the man we met was exaggerating the extent of the corruption or it was isolated to just that particular station. In contrast, maybe Mr. Korona was unwilling to admit to a bunch of strangers that there was rampant police corruption or the police officers are just good at getting away with it and Mr. Korona didn’t know. I have no idea of who’s right or wrong, but I found it interesting to hear two very different perspectives on the Hungarian police force.   

                            Perhaps if the corruption allegations are true the Hungarian police force could learn a thing or two from the sure-handed leadership of Chief Wiggum.

            I would compare our experience with Dr. Korona as similar to a guest-lecturer in a college class. We were able to study justice (hardy har har) from a different perspective, and were able to draw upon our prior knowledge of American legal institutions. Overall he did a good job presenting the material in a way that kept us interested throughout and I think all of us had a favorable opinion of the lecture.

                        

                                    I think Lady Justice would be pleased with Hungary.