The legitimation approach, by constructing its analyses of policing systems through the concepts of legitimacy, structure, and function, focuses on the relationship between police, state, and society. The police agency is a state institution, which, by seeking legitimacy for its actions, affects the legitimacy of the state as a whole. Accordingly, policing models differ from each other by the degree of dependency of the legitimation of police upon that of the state. The culturalist approach adds another dimension to the correlation. It maintains that the legitimacy, structure, and function of policing is also affected by the cultural peculiarities of the societies policed. Both approaches would be useful in the study of policing changes in Central and Eastern Europe. The analysis of the relationship between the police and the state, and in turn, between the police and the community, would contribute to an understanding of the processes of legitimation and structural transformations in these countries. On the other hand, the examination of the cultural and subcultural characteristics that define policing patterns and play an important role in its reforms would assist in the comprehension of the mutual correlation between the police and the social milieu. In this way, the legitimation and culturalistic approaches provide ample empirical data and theoretical analyses to serve as a foundation for building a culturally sensitive policing system.