Crime in Poland refers to the incidence, deterrence, and handling of criminal activity in the

Republic of Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

by Polish law enforcement agencies charged with ensuring

public safety Public security or public safety is the prevention of and protection from events that could endanger the safety and security of the public from significant danger, injury, or property damage. It is often conducted by a state government to ensu ...

and maintaining

order Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to: * A socio-political or established or existing order, e.g. World order, Ancien Regime, Pax Britannica * Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood ...

. Poland ranks favorably in terms of public safety, with one of the lowest homicide rates in Europe. Poland was ranked 25th in the 2022 Global Peace Index and scored 0.0 on the 2023 Global Terrorism Index.

Crime by type

Murder

In 2022, Poland's homicide rate was 0.68 per 100,000, with a total of 270 murders committed. The murder rate has remained relatively stable since 2014, when it was 0.74 per 100,000, with a total of 287 murders committed. The highest recorded homicide rate in the modern history of Poland was 2.39 per 100,000 in 1994, still during the

democratic consolidation Democratic consolidation is the process by which a new democracy matures, in a way that it becomes unlikely to revert to authoritarianism without an external shock, and is regarded as the only available system of government within a country. A coun ...

period following the 1989 fall of communism, which put an end to the

Polish People's Republic The Polish People's Republic (1952–1989), formerly the Republic of Poland (1947–1952), and also often simply known as Poland, was a country in Central Europe that existed as the predecessor of the modern-day democratic Republic of Poland. ...

and started the

democratic transition A democratic transition describes a phase in a country's political system as a result of an ongoing change from an authoritarian regime to a Democracy, democratic one. The process is known as democratisation, political changes moving in a democrat ...

Sexual violence

According to data, the

rape Rape is a type of sexual assault involving sexual intercourse, or other forms of sexual penetration, carried out against a person without consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or against a person ...

rate in Poland was 1.48 per 100,000 in 2022, down from 1.70 per 100,000 in 2015. The

sexual assault Sexual assault is an act of sexual abuse in which one intentionally Physical intimacy, sexually touches another person without that person's consent, or Coercion, coerces or physically forces a person to engage in a sexual act against their w ...

rate also decreased from 1.09 per 100,000 in 2015 to 0.9 per 100,000 in 2022.

Organized crime

The Central Investigation Bureau of Police (pol. ''Centralne Biuro Śledcze Policji'', ''CBŚP'') is the law enforcement unit of the Polish Police responsible for fighting organized crime. The most well-known of the Polish organized crime groups in the 1990s were the so-called ''Pruszków'' and ''Wołomin'' gangs. Polish organized crime emerged in the 1990s when the traditional criminal underworld became better organised due to rising corruption. Organized crime groups were well known (1992) for operating sophisticated

car theft Motor vehicle theft or car theft (also known as a grand theft auto in the United States) is the Crime, criminal act of Theft, stealing or attempting to steal a motor vehicle. In 2020, there were 810,400 vehicles reported stolen in the United ...

-rings, as well as for their involvement in drug trafficking (the main drug being

amphetamine Amphetamine (contracted from Alpha and beta carbon, alpha-methylphenethylamine, methylphenethylamine) is a central nervous system (CNS) stimulant that is used in the treatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), narcolepsy, an ...

) and weapon trafficking. The ''Pruszków mafia'' was an organized criminal group that emerged from the Warsaw suburb of

Pruszków Pruszków is a city in east-central Poland, capital of Pruszków County in the Masovian Voivodeship. Pruszków is located along the western edge of the Warsaw metropolitan area. Pruszków is the largest city in the Warsaw metropolitan area outs ...

at the beginning of the 1990s. The group is known for being involved in large car-theft rings,

drug trafficking A drug is any chemical substance other than a nutrient or an essential dietary ingredient, which, when administered to a living organism, produces a biological effect. Consumption of drugs can be via inhalation, injection, smoking, ingestion, ...

(including

cocaine Cocaine is a tropane alkaloid and central nervous system stimulant, derived primarily from the leaves of two South American coca plants, ''Erythroxylum coca'' and ''Erythroxylum novogranatense, E. novogranatense'', which are cultivated a ...

heroin Heroin, also known as diacetylmorphine and diamorphine among other names, is a morphinan opioid substance synthesized from the Opium, dried latex of the Papaver somniferum, opium poppy; it is mainly used as a recreational drug for its eupho ...

hashish Hashish (; ), usually abbreviated as hash, is a Compression (physics), compressed form of resin (trichomes) derived from the cannabis flowers. European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction, Lisbon, As a Psychoactive drug, psychoactive ...

and

kidnapping Kidnapping or abduction is the unlawful abduction and confinement of a person against their will, and is a crime in many jurisdictions. Kidnapping may be accomplished by use of force or fear, or a victim may be enticed into confinement by frau ...

extortion Extortion is the practice of obtaining benefit (e.g., money or goods) through coercion. In most jurisdictions it is likely to constitute a criminal offence. Robbery is the simplest and most common form of extortion, although making unfounded ...

weapon trafficking A weapon, arm, or armament is any implement or device that is used to deter, threaten, inflict physical damage, harm, or kill. Weapons are used to increase the efficacy and efficiency of activities such as hunting, crime (e.g., murder), law e ...

(including

AK-47 The AK-47, officially known as the Avtomat Kalashnikova (; also known as the Kalashnikov or just AK), is an assault rifle that is chambered for the 7.62×39mm cartridge. Developed in the Soviet Union by Russian small-arms designer Mikhail Kala ...

's) and

murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification (jurisprudence), justification or valid excuse (legal), excuse committed with the necessary Intention (criminal law), intention as defined by the law in a specific jurisd ...

. Even though law enforcement dealt a severe blow to the ''Pruszków mafia'', it is alleged that Pruszków-based gangs, with or without notice from their former leaders, have regained their strength in recent years and have begun setting up their car-theft rings and connections with Colombian drug cartels again. A similar organized crime group known as the ''Wołomin mafia'' from Wołomin near

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

, with whom they fought bloody turf wars, was crushed by the Polish police in cooperation with the German police in a spectacular raid on a highway between Konin and Poznan in September 2011. POL Centralne Biuro Antykorupcyjne logo

Corruption

According to the Corruption Perception Index for 2015, Poland was ranked as the 29th country with the least perceived corruption out of 168 countries assessed. It is the eleventh successive year in which Poland's score and ranking has improved in the Index. The law enforcement agency responsible for combating corruption within Poland's public sector is the Central Anticorruption Bureau ().

Polish cities most affected by crime

Crime dynamics

While local organized crime in Poland existed during the interwar period, it has mostly developed since the

fall of communism The revolutions of 1989, also known as the Fall of Communism, were a revolutionary wave of liberal democracy movements that resulted in the collapse of most Marxist–Leninist governments in the Eastern Bloc and other parts of the world. Th ...

(late 1980s/1990s) with the introduction of

free market In economics, a free market is an economic market (economics), system in which the prices of goods and services are determined by supply and demand expressed by sellers and buyers. Such markets, as modeled, operate without the intervention of ...

system in Poland and the lessening of the

police The police are Law enforcement organization, a constituted body of Law enforcement officer, people empowered by a State (polity), state with the aim of Law enforcement, enforcing the law and protecting the Public order policing, public order ...

( milicja) power. Crime in Poland is lower than in many countries of

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

.J. van Dijk, J. van Kesteren, P. Smit
Criminal Victimisation in International Perspective, Key Findings from the 2004-2005 ICVS and EU ICS
, WODC 2007 Newer studies (2009) report that the crime victimisation rate in Poland is constantly decreasing, and in 2008 Poland was at a low end of 25 among the 36 European countries listed. A 2004 report on security concerns of European Union residents indicated that the Polish public (along with that of Greece) are the most afraid of crime, a finding which does not correlate with the actual crime threat.J. van Dijk, R. Manchin, J. van Kesteren, S. Nevala, G. Hide
The Burden of Crime in the EU
Research Report: A Comparative Analysis of the European Crime and Safety Survey (EU ICS) 2005