Jarosław Jakub Szymczyk (born 21 March 1970 in
Katowice
Katowice (, ) is the capital city of the Silesian Voivodeship in southern Poland and the central city of the Katowice urban area. As of 2021, Katowice has an official population of 286,960, and a resident population estimate of around 315,000. K ...
) is a Polish police officer in rank of
Inspector General, who served as the
Commander-in-Chief of Police between 2016 and 2023.
His police career started in 1990. In the years 2007–2008 he was the provincial police commander in
Rzeszów
Rzeszów ( , ) is the largest city in southeastern Poland. It is located on both sides of the Wisłok River in the heartland of the Sandomierz Basin. Rzeszów is the capital of the Subcarpathian Voivodeship and the county seat, seat of Rzeszów C ...
. In 2008–2012, he was the deputy provincial police commander in
Katowice
Katowice (, ) is the capital city of the Silesian Voivodeship in southern Poland and the central city of the Katowice urban area. As of 2021, Katowice has an official population of 286,960, and a resident population estimate of around 315,000. K ...
. In 2012–2015, he was the provincial police commander in
Kielce
Kielce (; ) is a city in south-central Poland and the capital of the Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship. In 2021, it had 192,468 inhabitants. The city is in the middle of the Świętokrzyskie Mountains (Holy Cross Mountains), on the banks of the Silnic ...
, and in the years 2015–2016, the provincial police commander in Katowice.
In 2022, Szymczyk gained notoriety for being involved in an incident, in which a Ukrainian
grenade launcher
A grenade launcher is a weapon that fires a specially designed, large caliber projectile, often with an explosive, Smoke screen, smoke, or tear gas, gas warhead. Today, the term generally refers to a class of dedicated firearms firing unitary gre ...
he had been gifted when visiting the country during the
Russian invasion was apparently accidentally mishandled by himself in
his office in Warsaw, leading to him being hospitalised with minor injuries. On 30 September 2024, Szymczyk was charged with illegal importation and unintentional endangerment over the incident. The charges came after
Donald Tusk's Civic Coalition assumed power from the
PiS who were accused of covering up the incident and protecting Szymczyk. He had claimed that the grenade launcher was not functional, but an investigation found that it was in fact fully functional and loaded with ammunition when it was given to him in Ukraine.
References
Polish police officers
Living people
1970 births
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