Ministry of the Interior and Administration

Ministry of the Interior and Administration (Ministerstwo Spraw Wewnętrznych i Administracji) is an administration structure controlling main administration and security branches of the Polish government. After Parliamentary Election on 9 October 2011 was transformed for two ministries: Ministry of Interior (Minister: Jacek Cichocki) and Ministry of Administration and Digitization (Minister: Michał Boni). It was recreated in late 2015.

History and function
The ministry was founded in 1918 as the Ministry of Internal Affairs (Ministerstwo Spraw Wewnętrznych). During a reform of the Polish government in 1996 the administration branch was merged into the Ministry and it was renamed to its current name (on 24 December).

That was one of the most important governmental cabinet positions in Poland, The ministry was responsible for the following:


 * The general interior security of the country, with respect to criminal acts or natural catastrophes
 * including the major law-enforcement forces (see law enforcement in Poland)
 * the Polish National Police (Policja)
 * the Polish Border Guard (Straż Graniczna)
 * Civil defence
 * the State Fire Brigade (Straż Pożarna)
 * Search and rescue and the oversight of ambulance services
 * the granting of identity documents (Polish passports, identity cards) and driving licenses through the network of voivodeships
 * relations between the central government and local governments (except in the case of regional development, which is undertaken by the Ministry of Regional Development
 * logistics and organization of political elections, at the national and voivodeship levels (but the results of the elections are overseen by the Supreme Court of Poland)
 * regulation of immigration and preventing illegal immigration
 * integration and registration of legal immigrants

While the ministry of the Interior supervises police forces, it does not supervise criminal enquiries; criminal enquiries are conducted under the supervision of the judiciary.

The Ministry's headquarters was located on the Stefan Batory Street, south of Warsaw's city centre and the governmental district which surrounds the Belweder. The Ministry could be referred to by its initials 'MSWiA'.

The last Minister of the Interior and Administration before it was split in 2011 was Jerzy Miller.