The Salzburg Forum Expert Meeting
on Citizens’ Perception of and Confidence in Public Order Services
Warsaw, Hotel Łazienkowski
Thursday 23 and Friday 24 April 2009
THE ROLE OF 'THINK TANKS'
IN THE POLICE/BORDER GUARD – SOCIETY
NEXUS
Dr Wojciech Filipkowski
The School of Law, University of Białystok-http://www.prawo.uwb.edu.pl
The Polish Platform for Homeland Security - http://www.ppbw.pl
(Poland)

AGENDA
➔ An Idea of a Think Tank
➔ Types of Think Tanks
➔ Topics for discussion

AN IDEA OF A TT (1)
TT is a group of specialists brought together, usually
by a government,
➔ to develop ideas on a particular subject and
➔ to make suggestions for action.
See Cambridge Advanced Lerner’s Dictionary

AN IDEA OF A TT (2)
TT (also called a policy institute) is an organization,
institute, corporation, or group that
➔ conducts research and
➔ engages in advocacy in areas such as social policy,
political strategy, economy, science or technology
issues, industrial or business policies, or military
advice.
See The American Heritage Dictionary. \"Think Tank.\" 2000. and Merriam Webster's Dictionary. \"Think Tank.\"

AN IDEA OF A TT (3)
A TT is an organization that claims to serve as a center
for research and/or analysis of important public
issues.
In reality, many think tanks are little more than
➔ public relations fronts, usually headquartered in
state or national seats of government and
➔ generating self-serving scholarship that serves the
advocacy goals of their industry sponsors.
See The SourceWatch – http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Think_tanks

AN IDEA OF A TT (4)
TT
SOLUTIONS
➔RESEARCH THE PROBLEM
➔ANALYZE RESULTS
PROBLEM ➔SUGGEST SOLUTIONS
DECISION
GOVERNMENT

THE NEXUS
SOCIETY
DECISION
Police/Border Guards Other social groups
GOVERNMENT
Non-Governmental
Organizations
Other individuals
Political parties Students
Universities
ADVICE TT
Private Enterprises
Electronic Media

TYPES OF TT
➔ Sponsored by the government or private donors
➔ The field of research: social policy, political strategy,
economy, science or technology issues, industrial or
business policies, or military policies.
➔ The scope of activities: national or international.
➔ The form of organization: institute, foundation,
company, association, network of people.
➔ Range of studies: multi-disciplinary or mono
disciplinary.

Federally Funded
Research and Development Center
As described by the National Science Foundation, FFRDCs are
\"R&D-performing organizations that
➔ are exclusively or substantially financed by the Federal
Government and
➔ are supported by the Federal Government either to meet a
particular R&D objective or, in some instances, to provide
major facilities at universities for research and associated
training purposes.
Each center is administered either by an industrial firm, a
university, or another nonprofit institution.\"
There are also special FFRDCs funded by The U.S. Deparment
of Defense.
See National Science Foundation http://www.nsf.gov/sbe/srs/nsf02321/secta.htm.

TOPICS FOR DISCUSSION
➔ What are the fields of interest?
➔ What are the advantages of using TT in the course
of Police/Border Guard activities?
➔ What are the disadvantages of using TT in the
course of Police/Border Guard activities?
➔ What is the best way to utilize TT for Police/Border
Guard service?
➔ What are the countries experiences?
➔ What are the Police/Border Guard experience?

The Salzburg Forum Expert Meeting
on Citizens’ Perception of and Confidence in Public Order Services
Warsaw, Hotel Łazienkowski
Thursday 23 and Friday 24 April 2009
Dr Wojciech Filipkowski
fwojtek@uwb.edu.pl