User:Curtainrail/History of law enforcement in Poland

The History of law enforcement in Poland charts the development of law enforcement in Poland from the medieval period to the present day. As Poland's political status has changed many times over its history, law enforcement has changed radically in that time.

Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth

In the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, law enforcement was primarily undertaken by a group of nobles (or szlachta) who possessed private armies. In return for political power and a place within the nation's social hierarchy, these nobles swore their and their mercenary troops' allegiance to the king. As a result of the enduring power of a number of powerful magnates, relative weakness of the 'elected' monarchs and continued existence of the feudal system in Polish society, centralised rule of law did not truly exist until the adoption of the Constitution of May 3, 1791.

The Constitution aimed to weaken the golden freedoms of the upper classes and redistribute a portion of their power among the mercantile middle classes. In addition to this, factors related to the increased centralisation of sovereign power under the authority of the king, led to the establishment of a standing army, provided for by the state and subordinate only to the king and authorities of the national government.

Partitions of Poland to 1919

1887 Russian 'wanted' poster for future Polish Marshal of Poland and Chief of State, Józef Piłsudski

As a result of the 1772-1795 partitions of Poland, Poland ceased to exist as an independent country, and so and subsequent rule of the partitioning powers (Austria-Hungary, Germany and Russia), the authority of King Stanisław August collapsed and the former territories of the commonwealth came under the direct supervision of their partitioning powers' law enforcement services.

In Austrian controlled Galicia, the Imperial Gendarmerie became responsible for preserving public order and later became known for being arguably the least oppressive of the three occupying powers. In both the Russian and German territories of the former Poland, it was widely reported that law enforcement agencies and paramilitaries engaged in both oppression of Polish political organisations and the forced assimilation of local culture with those of their own nations.

Inter-war period

Mounted officers of the Policja Państwowa

An officer of the Policja Państwowa on traffic duty in Warsaw, 1939

In the aftermath of the First World War, a Second Polish Republic was created from lands which were formerly parts of the defeated German Empire, a collapsing Austro-Hungarian Empire and the old Russian Empire. The state was created along non-federalist lines and a centralised form of government was established. A new national police force, the 'Policja Państwowa' (State Police) was formed. This was

A number of key law enforcement duties were the responsiblity of other organisations, such as control of borders to the Straż Graniczna (Border Guard) and military police functions to the Żandarmeria Wojskowa (Military Gendarmerie).

Second World War

German Ordnungspolizei and Blue Police at Kraków in 1941

In the opening months of the Second World War, Poland was overrun by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union, with control of Polish territory divided between them. Of the territory occupied by the Germans, some was fully incorporated into Germany, and some became a German 'colony' called the General Government, or General Governorate. In the incorporated areas, policing became the responsibility of the SS-infiltrated German regular police; the Ordnungspolizei (abbreviated to "Orpo"). In the General Government, the pre-war Polish police was reconstituted (by threat of execution) with German leadership and subordinated to the Orpo. The same system was used in many Nazi-occupied territories. The same stations, organisational structure, regulations, legal code and uniforms were used as before the war, but uniforms were without national insignia. These Polish police became known as the Blue Police, in contrast to the green uniforms of the Orpo. The Blue Police mainly existed to release the German police and security agencies from day-to-day policing duties, though some were forced to join a Schutzmannschaften battalion, to support the Sicherheitspolizei (Security Police), which was undermanned. There were also quasi-police organisations in the Jewish ghettos, staffed by Jews who had little prior association with the communities they oversaw.

The territories that were occupied by the Soviet Union were integrated into the Soviet Socialist Republics of Ukraine and Belarus. The NKVD, with the assistance of the Red Army, was entirely responsible for security, and instigated a brutal regime. (See also: Soviet repressions of Polish citizens (1939–46))

The Państwowy Korpus Bezpieczeństwa (National Security Corps) was the police force of the Polish underground state during the occupation. It was, along with most of the rest of the underground state, loyal the loyal to the Polish government-in-exile in London. Its members were both former members of the Policja Państwowa and new volunteers. It was intended that they would become the core of the future police force after the assumed all-national uprising and liberation. They worked with the Directorate of Civil Resistance and the Special Courts but could not, under the circumstances, provide a service to the whole country.

Near the end of the Second World War, the Polish resistance launched a final uprising, expecting to be supported by the Soviet Union. However, the Red Army failed to do so, and most of the underground state, including the National Security Corps, was almost completely destroyed by the Germans. This is alleged by many historians to be a deliberate long term strategy by Joseph Stalin, who aimed to set up a communist state under Soviet control instead of the independent democratic republic envisioned by the resistance.

Communist Period

Polish communists had set up the Polish Committee of National Liberation in July 1944, several months before the Warsaw uprising. , the Soviet controlled provisional government of Poland that was set up in opposition to the Polish government-in-exile, created new organs of government

After the Second World War, Poland was occupied by the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union did not return the territory it had annexed in 1939, but Poland received more territory in the East from defeated Nazi Germany.

Milicja Obywatelska (Citizen's Militia).

The name "Militia", which was shared with the police of many other Eastern bloc states, was supposed to reflect the Communist ideal that that the police were a force composed of, and at the service of, 'normal citizens', rather than an instrument of oppression ensuring the position of the bourgeoisie.

The Milicja was a major component of state repression in the Communist Polish People's Republic, along with the

The Milicja was for the most part, detested by the general populace; events such as the police's conduct during the Gdańsk Shipyard Strike and surrounding the Popiełuszko affair, only worsened the people's view of their law enforcement agencies.

Post-Communism

The Milicja Obywatelska was reformed in 1990 as the Policja

After the fall of the communist government in Poland, the Milicja was reformed.system was reformed once again, this time reviving the pre-war name of 'Policja' and albeit with a few minor changes, the general system of law-enforcement of the Second Republic.