Crime in Poland
Crime in Poland is combated by the Polish police and other government agencies. Poland's homicide rate is among the lowest in Europe and the country ranks 25th in Global Peace Index in 2022.
Crime by type
Murder
In 2011, Poland had a murder rate of 1.2 per 100,000 population.[1] There were a total of 449 murders in Poland in 2011. In 2014 Poland had a murder rate of 0.7 per 100,000. There were a total 283 murders in Poland in 2014.[1] In 2020, the homicide rate in Poland was 0.71 per 100,000 similar to recent years and down from a high of 2.4 per 100,000 in 1993 and 1994.[2]
Organized crime
The most well known of the Polish organized crime groups in the 1990s were the so-called Pruszkow and the Wolomin gangs.[3]
The first war against organized crime was won by Poland in the 90s. This war was aimed at large gangs. The state triumphed and so we no longer have the gangs of Wolomin and Pruszkow,” said Mr Bartłomiej Sienkiewicz at the press conference at the MI. Head of the MI added that at the moment there were about 200 criminal groups operating across Poland which were under constant police monitoring. “For none of them the situation is likely to return to the one observed in the 90s” said Minister Bartłomiej Sienkiewicz.
Polish organized crime emerged in the 1990s, when the traditional criminal underworld became better organised due to rising corruption.[4] Organized crime groups were well known (1992) for operating sophisticated car theft-rings,[5] as well as for their involvement in drug trafficking (the main drug being amphetamine) and weapon trafficking.
The Pruszków mafia was an organized criminal group that emerged from the Warsaw suburb of Pruszków in the beginning of the 1990s. The group is known for being involved in large car-theft rings, drug trafficking (including cocaine, heroin, hashish and amphetamine), kidnapping, extortion, weapon trafficking (including AK-47's) and murder. Even though law enforcement dealt a severe blow to the Pruszków mafia, it is alleged that Pruszków-based gangs, with or without notice from their former leaders, have regained their strength in recent years and have begun setting up their car-theft rings and connections with Colombian drug cartels again.[6]
A similar organized crime group known as the Wołomin mafia from Wołomin near Warsaw, with whom they fought bloody turf wars,[7] was crushed by the Polish police in cooperation with the German police in a spectacular raid on a highway between Konin and Poznan in September 2011.[8]
Corruption
Poland ranked 30th in the 175 country listing the Corruption Perception Index for 2015.[9] It is the tenth successive year in which Poland's score and ranking has improved in the Index.
Polish cities most affected by crime
# | City | Number of crimes per 100,000 inhabitants |
---|---|---|
1. | Sobótka | 7063,7 |
2. | Chorzów | 6733,3 |
3. | Legnica | 6361,5 |
4. | Kalisz | 6228,2 |
5. | Gdańsk | 6133,7 |
6. | Poznań | 6109,2 |
7. | Wrocław | 5983,4 |
8. | Kraków | 5974,2 |
9. | Kielce | 5926,6 |
10. | Gliwice | 5733,5 |
11. | Opole | 5649,8 |
12. | Włocławek | 5626,9 |
13. | Warszawa | 5353,2 |
14. | Bytom | 5332,5 |
15. | Elbląg | 5328,1 |
16. | Zielona Góra | 5193,2 |
17. | Tarnów | 5187,3 |
18. | Gorzów Wielkopolski | 5156,6 |
19. | Szczecin | 5120,9 |
20. | Toruń | 5120,2 |
21. | Łódź | 5116,4 |
22. | Sosnowiec | 5051,7 |
23. | Bielsko-Biała | 4969,1 |
24. | Lublin | 4968,7 |
25. | Zabrze | 4808,8 |
26. | Wałbrzych | 4710,2 |
27. | Dąbrowa Górnicza | 4690,8 |
28. | Radom | 4670,1 |
29. | Bydgoszcz | 4515,1 |
30. | Rybnik | 4500,7 |
31. | Gdynia | 4328,1 |
32. | Olsztyn | 4317 |
33. | Koszalin | 4004,7 |
34. | Ruda Śląska | 3945,3 |
35. | Rzeszów | 3890,9 |
36. | Tychy | 3842,7 |
37. | Częstochowa | 3786,5 |
38. | Płock | 3262,5 |
39. | Białystok | 2977 |
Crime dynamics
While local organized crime in Poland existed during the interwar period, it has mostly developed since the fall of communism (late 1980s/1990s) with the introduction of free market system in Poland and the lessening of the police (milicja) power.
Crime in Poland is lower than in many countries of Europe.[11]
Newer studies (2009) report that the crime victimisation rate in Poland is constantly decreasing, and in 2008 Poland was at a low end of 25 among the 36 European countries listed.[12][13] A 2004 report on security concerns of European Union residents indicated that the Polish public (along with that of Greece) are the most afraid of crime, a finding which does not correlate with the actual crime threat.[14]
See also
- Football hooliganism in Poland
- Polish Mob (in United States)
References
- Global Study on Homicide. United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, 2013.
- "DATAUNODC". Retrieved 10 January 2022.
- "Head of the Polish MI on the priorities and key strategies of the Ministry - News - Ministry of the Interior and Administration". Msw.gov.pl. Retrieved 2018-04-22.
- Organised Crime in Europe, Springer.com, 2004.
- The Christian Science Monitor, April 13, 1992.
- "Gang pruszkowski znów rośnie w siłę | zyciewarszawy.pl" (in Polish). Zw.com.pl. 2017-09-08. Retrieved 2018-04-22.
- Klaus Bachmann (1970-01-01). ""Nikos" Skotarczak starb bei Frühstück im Nachtclub: Gründervater der Auto-Mafia erschossen | Berliner Zeitung". Berliner-zeitung.de. Retrieved 2018-04-22.
- Ag. (29 September 2011), Policja rozbiła gang samochodowy z Wołomina. Widowiskowa akcja na autostradzie Super Express, Kronika kryminalna.
- "Corruption Perceptions Index 2015". Archived from the original on 29 August 2016. Retrieved 26 May 2016.
- Wprost, June 2006
- J. van Dijk, J. van Kesteren, P. Smit, Criminal Victimisation in International Perspective, Key Findings from the 2004-2005 ICVS and EU ICS Archived 2008-12-19 at the Wayback Machine, WODC 2007
- A. Siemaszko, B. Gruszczyńska, M. Marczewski Atlas przestępczości w Polsce 4, Instytut Wymiaru Sprawiedliwości, 2009
- E. Siedlecka, Lawinowy spadek przestępczości, Gazeta Wyborcza, 2.3.2009
- J. van Dijk, R. Manchin, J. van Kesteren, S. Nevala, G. Hideg The Burden of Crime in the EU Archived 2009-12-29 at the Wayback Machine Research Report: A Comparative Analysis of the European Crime and Safety Survey (EU ICS) 2005
Further reading
- Emil Pływaczewski, Organised Crime in Poland: Its Development from 'Real Socialism' to Present Times in Cyrille Fijnaut, Letizia Paoli, Organised Crime in Europe: Concepts, Patterns and Control Policies in the European Union and Beyond, Springer, 2004, ISBN 1-4020-2615-3
- S. P. Bartnicki, CRIME IN POLAND: TRENDS, REGIONAL PATTERNS AND NEIGHBOURHOOD AWARENESS, in David J. Evans, David T. Herbert, The Geography of Crime, Routledge, 1989, ISBN 0-415-00453-5
- Carl B. Klockars, Sanja Kutnjak Ivkovic, Maria R. Haberfeld, Crime in Contemporary Poland in The Contours of Police Integrity, Sage Publications Inc, 2003, ISBN 0-7619-2586-4
- Organized crime in poland: how to combat it?, European Journal on Criminal Policy and Research, Volume 2, Numbers 2-3 / June, 1994, 0928-1371 (Print) 1572-9869 (Online)