Warsaw. Former police chief: there is too little training with weapons

On Saturday, a tragic intervention took place in Warsaw at Inżynierska Street in Praga Północ, during which a policeman was injured.. The officer was shot. He died the same day in hospital. According to the Warsaw Police Headquarters, one of the intervening officers used the weapon. The aggressive man whom the police intervened against was detained, overpowered and taken to the police station.

The capital police reported that the shot was fired by a young officer who had been on duty for over a year.

Maciej Szuba, a private detective and former police commander in Poznań, admitted in a conversation with a TVN24 reporter that the need to use a weapon is always very stressful for an officer, especially an inexperienced one. – Here, unfortunately, we were dealing with a young policeman who had served for just over a year. For this reason alone, he did not have many opportunities to get used to using sharp weapons on a daily basis. For him, just drawing a weapon is already stressful, and the situation they (intervening officers – ed.) found was not very interesting. A man who used a machete was a big threat. As it later turned out, he was an individual known to the police who had repeatedly disturbed order in this area – said Szuba.

He admitted that he was surprised by the fact that the policeman who was shot was not wearing a bulletproof vest. – Police officers who are on intervention patrols use these vests every day. They protect against bullets and any other sharp, dangerous tool, he said.

Szuba was asked whether enough time was devoted to training future officers in the use of weapons – In my opinion, not too much – he replied.

At the same time, he emphasized that at the moment we know too little to assess this situation clearly.

– This is very difficult for everyone who has to deal with this matter. This boy is under great stress and requires psychological help. We need to gather all the witnesses, interview them and assess the situation. One thing is clear, he didn't want to kill. He was supposed to serve his friend, to protect him and prevent the attack, said Maciej Szuba.

The detective also referred to an example from the past where there was an incident involving the discharge of a service weapon. At that time it was a short submachine gun of the “RAK” type. – It was among the commandos who were in formation – recalls Szuba. At some point, the gun fired and the bullet hit one of the officers. Then I ended up with a massive bruise because the commando was wearing a vest.

– Such situations may happen, but they will happen less often the more training there is. I am afraid that there are not enough of these daily, mandatory training sessions – he said.

– Weapons are increasingly used by the police. This is also due to situations that police officers encounter more and more often on their way and have to draw and shoot weapons. They will shoot well if they practice a lot with weapons, he added.