Crime in Poland

Crime in Poland refers to the incidence, deterrence, and handling of criminal activity in the Republic of Poland by Polish law enforcement agencies charged with ensuring public safety and maintaining order. Poland ranks favorably in terms of public safety, with one of the lowest homicide rates in Europe. Poland was ranked 25th in the 2022 Global Peace Index and scored 0.0 on the 2023 Global Terrorism Index.

Murder
In 2022, Poland's homicide rate was 0.68 per 100,000, with a total of 270 murders committed. The murder rate has remained relatively stable since 2014, when it was 0.74 per 100,000, with a total of 287 murders committed. The highest recorded homicide rate in the modern history of Poland was 2.39 per 100,000 in 1994, still during the democratic consolidation period following the 1989 fall of communism, which put an end to the Polish People's Republic and started the democratic transition.

Organized crime
The Central Investigation Bureau of Police (pol. Centralne Biuro Śledcze Policji, CBŚP) is the law enforcement unit of the Polish Police responsible for fighting organized crime.

The most well-known of the Polish organized crime groups in the 1990s were the so-called Pruszków and Wołomin gangs. "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.

The 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. Organized crime groups were well known (1992) for operating sophisticated car theft-rings, 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 at 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.

A similar organized crime group known as the Wołomin mafia from Wołomin near Warsaw, with whom they fought bloody turf wars, 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.

Corruption
According to the Corruption Perception Index for 2015, Poland was ranked as the 29th country with the least perceived corruption out of 168 countries assessed. It is the eleventh successive year in which Poland's score and ranking has improved in the Index.

The law enforcement agency responsible for combating corruption within Poland's public sector is the Central Anticorruption Bureau (pol. Centralne Biuro Antykorupcyjne).

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.

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. 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.