Residents of Warsaw no longer feel safe in their own city. According to opposition MPs, this is largely due to the shortage of police officers in the capital.
MP Olga Semeniuk-Patkowska highlighted the significant number of vacant positions within Warsaw’s police force. “It’s no secret that Warsaw faces numerous vacancies in the police department,” stated the MP. “We continually see a shortage of police officers here,” she added. She also pointed to the situation in the Praga-Północ district, where, she noted, “many crimes, including drug-related offenses, occur frequently.”
Semeniuk-Patkowska indicated that together with MP Anita Czerwińska, they intend to address the issue of safety at the next session of the Warsaw City Council. She recalled promises made by Warsaw Mayor Rafał Trzaskowski and his deputies to seek solutions that would encourage greater recruitment and demand for policing services.
“This sense of insecurity is not only prevalent among residents but particularly impacts transportation and women,” said Semeniuk-Patkowska during a press conference at the Parliament dedicated to safety issues facing Warsaw’s residents. “Safety is disappearing,” she concluded.
Warsaw is no longer safe
“Unfortunately, this is not happening. Safety is fading away,” reiterated Semeniuk-Patkowska. “No amount of money can compensate for this, and claims that additional municipal funds allocated to Warsaw will be properly spent are completely absurd,” she assessed. According to the MP, “such funds usually go towards expanding city hall and bureaucratic operations rather than addressing police-related issues.”
Czerwińska drew attention to the monthly deployment of significant police forces for securing the “monthly Smolensk commemorations.” She suggested that police resources would be better utilized on Warsaw’s streets, improving overall safety. Czerwińska noted that even newspapers sympathetic to Rafał Trzaskowski, such as Gazeta Wyborcza, published articles where women expressed fears about walking the streets, highlighting the declining sense of safety in Warsaw.
Semeniuk-Patkowska also referred to the recent vandalism attack on a technical metro station in Warsaw’s Kabaty district. Vandals attacked the technical maintenance base of Warsaw Metro in Kabaty, causing derailments of two metro cars and damaging track switches and infrastructure across several meters.
The MP pointed out that despite the passage of time, the public has still not been informed about the identity of the perpetrators. “The police are, of course, investigating the matter, but we know for certain that this investigation will likely continue indefinitely,” she stated. According to Czerwińska, “this isn’t just ordinary hooliganism where someone derails a train or metro.” She added that Poland is currently experiencing a hybrid war situation, emphasizing the necessity of exceptional security measures. “Let’s remember we are in a state of hybrid warfare, and such strategic facilities should be particularly protected and monitored,” Czerwińska remarked.