German police officers are not permanently stationed in Poland, but—together with Polish officers—they take part in joint patrols in our country. They also hand over migrants to the Polish Border Guard. Joint units operating on both sides of the border are in place.
Recently, a video was posted on social media showing a German police car driving through the streets of Gubin. Footage of foreign officers on Polish streets has sparked public concern.
As the Provincial Police Headquarters informed the Niezależna.pl portal, there are no German police officers stationed—permanently or temporarily—in the Lower Silesian or Lubuskie Provinces.
However, Lubuskie Police officers closely cooperate with their German counterparts, for example as part of joint patrols in Gubin/Guben, cross-border pursuits, and within the Polish-German Center for Cooperation of Border, Police, and Customs Services in Świecko.
There are also no permanently stationed German officers in the West Pomeranian Province. In this area as well, joint patrols made up of Polish and German officers are conducted. The district police commands in Gryfino (cooperating with Brandenburg), Police (the town), and the Municipal Police Headquarters in Świnoujście (cooperating with the police from the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern region) all participate. In 2024 alone, 71 such joint patrols have taken place.
Cooperation is expanding—on June 1, 2024, the Municipal Police Headquarters in Świnoujście and the police station in Heringsdorf (Mecklenburg-Vorpommern) established a joint Polish-German police team. This unit consists of six officers (three from Poland and three from Germany) who are on duty every day in the city and municipality of Świnoujście, as well as on the island of Usedom, on a continuous basis.
Border Guard Takes Over Migrants
Under readmission agreements and the Dublin III Regulation, it is the Polish Border Guard that takes custody of migrants from the German police.
Polish Border Guard officers cooperate with the German Federal Police on Polish territory based on the Agreement between the Government of the Republic of Poland and the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany on cooperation between police, border, and customs services from 2014.
Within the Szczecin Border Guard Post, there is a Joint Polish-German Facility based in Pomellen. It includes both Polish Border Guard officers from Szczecin and German officers from the Federal Police Inspection in Pasewalk.
How does this cooperation work in practice? We asked the Maritime Border Guard Unit, which is responsible for a 169-kilometer section of the land border with Germany.
“Joint patrols are carried out both on Polish and German territory. However, the other tasks listed below are performed on the German side because the aforementioned joint facility is located in a German Federal Police station building in the former Kołbaskowo/Pomellen border crossing,”
said the press officer of the Commander of the Maritime Border Guard Unit.
A similar situation exists in other parts of the Polish-German border. In the area of responsibility of the Nadodrzański Border Guard Unit, there are currently three joint Polish-German Border Guard facilities: in Świecko, Tuplicach, and Ludwigsdorf—operating within the Zgorzelec Border Guard Post—where officers from both the Nadodrzański Border Guard and the German police go on joint patrols.
Results of Cooperation
The Niezalezna.pl portal previously reported statistics provided by two Border Guard units responsible for the Polish-German border.
From January 2024 to January 2025, officers from the Szczecin Border Guard Post accepted custody of 260 people transferred under readmission agreements and the Dublin III Regulation.
“In our area, the number has significantly increased since the New Year, but it’s too early to give exact figures,”
they told us.
The Nadodrzański Border Guard Unit has recorded even higher documented transfer numbers. According to information provided, from January 1, 2024, to January 31, 2025, officers have accepted 507 people transferred under readmission agreements and Dublin III.
By comparison, Italy accepted only four out of several thousand refugees returned by Germany in 2024.
Infrastructure in Place
Then there are situations in which the German police “drop off” migrants in an unauthorized manner. German authorities want to speed up deportations. On March 1, a facility for such individuals opens in Eisenhüttenstadt near the Polish border.
Polish and German services are ready. Integration Centers for Foreigners are nearing completion across Poland. On Mazovia alone, there will be six such centers, set to open in 2025. By 2029, 105 million PLN will be allocated to these facilities in that single province.