Polish police are struggling with emerging foreign gangs amid a staffing crisis

The rise of foreign gangs in Poland has become an increasing concern for law enforcement, as police officers become overloaded and under-resourced. Gangs of foreigners are growing in strength in major cities, posing a significant challenge to a police force already suffering from chronic understaffing and low morale.

Sergeant Jacek Łukasik, a police officer from Nowy Sącz and head of the National Police Union, has sounded the alarm, describing the current situation as a ‘crisis’.

“Criminal groups composed of foreigners have become widespread, which is already visible in major cities. If we don’t start investing in the police now, we will soon face a turf war for influence in Poland,” Łukasik warned as quoted by Wirtualna Polska.

Polish police officers have planned a nationwide protest for later this month, reportedly involving more than 10,000 officers. During the protest, officers will deliberately slow down their work to draw attention to their grievances. Police unions are demanding better working conditions, higher wages and more staff, warning that the police force currently faces a shortage of more than 14,000 officers, leaving some regions with only a fraction of the patrols they need.

“Instead of the four or five patrols needed in a given area, we can deploy just one. This is a drop in service quality and we are at our wits end,” Łukasik told local media.

He cited one case to support his claims, where a married couple identified burglars in their home through CCTV. Despite reporting the crime to the police, it took 40 minutes for a patrol unit to arrive, by which time the criminals had fled with the couple’s valuables.

Foreign gangs, especially those from Ukraine and Georgia, have become a growing problem, with organized criminal activity specifically targeting drug trafficking and cybercrime. The increase in foreign crime across Poland last year has been partly attributed to the large number of Ukrainian citizens residing in the country – over 2.5 million – while Georgian gangs also have a significant presence.

Andrzej Juźwiak, spokesperson for the Border Guard Headquarters, revealed the significant increase in crimes committed by foreigners in Poland last year, with 2,400 cases to 17,300.

Authorities are making a concerted effort to speed up deportations of foreign criminals recently released from Polish prisons, with greater cooperation between border guards and criminal justice administrative staff, but police unions warn they are still fighting a losing battle.

A major problem is the retention rate for newly hired police officers who claim that the pay is too low for the job they want to fill, causing many to leave the profession after just a few years.

“A frontline officer should earn between PLN 10,000 (€23,200) and PLN 12,000 (€2,785) per month,” Łukasik said. “Otherwise it will not be possible to attract people at the right level.” An officer fresh out of the police academy can currently expect to earn around 6,000 PLN (€1,400) per month.

The government has proposed a 5 percent pay increase for next year, but police unions say this is insufficient. The unions are also calling for more significant budget increases to address both staff shortages and the increase in foreign crime, demanding that the police budget be increased to PLN 25 billion (EUR 5.8 billion), much higher than the 20, PLN 2 billion (EUR 4.7 billion) currently planned.

Union heads are expected to continue working with Interior Minister Tomasz Siemoniak in the coming weeks to tackle the deepening crisis, amid concerns that without urgent intervention and more resources, law enforcement will be unable to effectively protect the population and create a vacuum that will be filled mainly by foreign organized crime groups.