Policemen on sick leave, the commander patrols the city

The problem of lack of people willing to work in the ranks of the police has been known for a long time. According to data provided by police trade unionists, the Warsaw Police Headquarters alone lacks approximately 2,500 officers, which constitutes almost 25 percent of all employment.

The staffing situation is also difficult in district headquarters located within the capital garrison. There, on average, every fourth position remains unoccupied.

For several days now, police officers have been protesting in units across the country about not coming to work due to sick leave. The action was given the code name “Lucyna”, and is also colloquially called “dog flu”. The Police Headquarters does not provide data on the number of absent uniformed officers, hence the lack of official information on the scale of the protest.

In turn, informal sources show that most people protest in Silesia and Lesser Poland. The basic demands of police officers concern an increase in remuneration and improvement of working conditions by linking the police budget with GDP as a percentage (like the army), a raise of at least PLN 1,500 and changes in pension regulations.

We managed to talk to officers from the District Police Headquarters in Otwock – a unit belonging to the capital garrison, inhabited by approximately 120,000 people.

According to our findings, the most difficult staffing situation is currently in the Criminal Department of the Otwock police station. – Apart from the chiefs, the remaining policemen are on leave – tells us an officer who wishes to remain anonymous for fear of consequences.

Uniformed officers from the Road Traffic Department and the Prevention Department are also on leave. – The head of WRD remained with his deputy and one officer – a policeman from Otwock tells us.

The shortages in the Prevention Department are so great that the district commander himself and other management staff go out to intervene as part of the patrol.

Police officers on duty are also delegated to street patrols – they are the few who do not take part in the protest. – Due to their powers and access to police IT systems, they cannot be replaced by another officer – explains another policeman we talked to.

Police officers assigned to serve in police stations in the Otwock district also reported health problems. – Only the commander remained on duty in Karczew. He creates a patrol with the heads of other police stations, our interlocutors say.

We asked the spokesman of the Otwock police station about the high absenteeism rate due to “dog flu”.

– Due to the ongoing war across the eastern border and the hybrid war, we do not provide information about police officers on sick leave – said Deputy Commissioner Patryk Domarecki, press officer of the district police commander in Otwock. Police press officers across the country answer questions about the “Lucyna” operation in this tone.

– Continuity of service is maintained, residents can certainly count on our help – adds Deputy Commissioner Domarecki.

And again, we must refer to our unofficial findings, which show that in order to fill gaps in the staff, additional patrols from prevention and road traffic units are sent to Otwock from the capital.

The date of the policemen's protest is not accidental and is related to the Independence March organized in Warsaw on November 11. Every year, several thousand uniformed officers delegated from all over the country take part in the march from the center of the capital to the grounds of the National Stadium.

As we found out, most of the sick leaves presented by police officers from Otwock expire in the middle of next week. – Difficulties in organizing security for the march are said to be an additional effect of the protest – say the police.