Organisation and activities of the criminal police in the interwar period. Selected aspects (original) (raw)

The Issues of Criminal Policy in the Interwar Period in Poland

2020

One of the debates carried out in interwar Poland among legal professionals, including on the pages of legal journals, regarded the issue of how to define and delimit the scope of criminal policy. It was contributed to by many prominent jurists of that era, such as J. Makarewicz, B. Wróblewski or E.S. Rappaport. The aim of this article is to present J. Reinhold’s and A. Moginicki’s views on criminal policy. However, these two authors perceived the combat against crime differently as to the use of various means by the State or both the State and society (penalties and/or preventive/protective measures). Although they were influenced by the sociological school of criminal law, mainly F. von Liszt’s position, an analysis of their views points to a number of differences in their positions.

Key Police Forces in the Reborn Poland – Historical Context and Linguistic Commentary on Their Names

PRZEGLĄD POLICYJNY, 2019

The text concerns the names of Polish police forces, their symbols, semantics, etymology and the way they are written down (spelling). The article contains historical and linguistic content. The reconstruction of the Polish state in 1918 made it possible to establish the police as a typical organisation. The Seym passed an act establishing a new, uniform police force (the State Police) on 24 July 1919. It was the fi rst Polish police organisation to survive formally until 1944. In post-war Poland, the traditional functions (tasks) of the police were taken over (performed) by the Citizens’ Militia. Contrary to its own name, the militia did not have the status of civic activism for the common good, but was a state body, centralised, hierarchical, rejecting the principle of nonpoliticality and linked to the security apparatus. The modern police are the heir not only of the State Police, but also of all previous Polish police forces. To sum up, the article brings closer and commemorates...

Police Education in the Second Republic of Poland — Outline of the Problem

PRZEGLĄD POLICYJNY, 2021

The text is concerned with the history of police education in 1919–1939. The reconstruction of Polish statehood after World War I involved the establishment of a service responsible for security and order in the country in 1919. Parallel to the organisation of the State Police, work on the creation of a modern system of police education continued. Throughout the period of this force’s existence, many reorganisations were made in order to create a system that would ensure the professional preparation of police offi cers for service. The article presents only an outline of the changes related to police education in the interwar period, and does not fully exhaust this subject matter.

Women Police in Interwar Poland in the Light of Reports From Inspections Carried Out by Stanisława Paleolog

Internal Security, t. 12, nr 2, 2020

Although the genesis of women police dates back to 1925, not much information on the activities of this formation has been preserved until today. It is known that it was established on the initiative of the Polish Committee for the Fight Against Trafficking in Women and Children and its main goal was to fight prostitution, to prevent women from being taken out of the country and exploited for work as prostitutes, and later also to take care of children. The formation was supervised by lt. Stanisława Filipina Paleolog. Her duties included controlling female police officers in terms of their task performance, as well as taking care of new candidates. In the article, on the basis of archival documents, the author analyses control reports and protocols drawn up during that period, on the basis of which it is possible to reconstruct, at least partially, the history of Polish female police officers in the late 1930s.

Akta polskich sądów okręgowych jako źródła do badań nad przestępczością powojenną (1945–1950) na wybranych przykładach

Krakowskie Studia z Historii Państwa i Prawa

Files of Polish Regional Courts as Sources for Research on Selected Examples of Postwar (1945-1950) Crime The study of postwar crime is becoming more and more popular among Polish researchers. The basic source for conducting this kind of research is criminal files, primarily those of the regional courts operating in the years 1945-1950. The author calls attention to both statutory and actual restrictions on access to source materials. He also notes how using other, non-official sources or witness accounts in this type of research will not always be appropriate. He postulates that research on postwar crime in Poland should be designed primarily as research on crime in the juridical sense. The author also indicates that research on postwar crime has many points in common with the so-called historical criminology.

Police services in Upper Silesia during the Silesian Uprisings

JOURNAL OF SCIENCE OF THE MILITARY ACADEMY OF LAND FORCES, 2015

In this article the author illustrates the activity of police services in Upper Silesia between 1918 and 1922. In introduction the author describes international and political position of Upper Silesia. In this period the special Military Inter-Allied Commission of Control was a temporary legislator and administrator of Upper Silesia. The main task of the Commission was to conduct a plebiscite and divide a disputed territory. It also established its internal policy. Moreover, the Commission had its own police services, which were outlined chron-ologically in this article. Sicherheitspolizei was the first police service, formed in times of the German Reich. Sicherheitspolizei was replaced by combined plebiscite police, which operated until the division of Upper Silesia between Poland and Germany. In the mean-time a special police, military police and municipal police operated simultaneously in Up-per Silesia. During the analysis of particular police service the author paid a close atten-tion to its organization, assignments, conditions of recruitment and attitude to obligation to maintain neutrality towards the plebiscite. Activity of police services was elaborated against the background of the events of that time, such as the plebiscite, Silesian Upris-ings and rivalry between Poland and Germany. The article was mainly based on Polish literature, bilingual archival materials and partially on German literature.

The features of the lustration of the police system: the practice of post-communist countries of Europe (on the example of Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic)

Lytvyn V. The features of the lustration of the police system: the practice of post-communist countries of Europe (on the example of Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic) / Vitaliy Lytvyn // Studium Europy Srodkowej i Wschodniej. – 2018. – Nr. 9. – S. 67–81., 2018

The article is dedicated to comparative analysis of causes, peculiarities of the implementation and consequences of the lustration of police system in post-communist countries of Europe, in particular in Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic. It has been revealed that the features of the lustration and liberalization of police system in post-communist Poland, Hungary, Czechia and Slovakia were extremely various and therefore they were able to lead to various organizational and functional consequences and results of police functioning: both at the level of its transformation from an instrument of protection of the autocratic regime into a democracy oriented institution and at the level of processes of its demilitarization, professionalization, specialization, demystification, reduction, decentralization, decriminalization and so on. The author argued that the problem of all the analyzed countries of the region was the fact that the lustration of police system was used (or still continues to do so) to a large extent as manipulative technology by political rivals and media. At the same time, it was discovered that Poland, Hungary, Czechia and Slovakia used various models of lustration law and policy towards secret police and they are largely dependent on different models of transition from authoritarianism to democracy. Keywords: police, police system, secret police, lustration, post-communist Europe.

Occupational Police Formations in Serbia during 1941: Structural Organization Police Practice and Problems

Repeating History 1941-1991? Two break-ups of Yugoslavia as repeated history? Serbian perspectives, 2021

The article aims to present the development of the structural organization of the German police during the first year of the Axis occupation of Serbia, as well as the basic methodology of police work and the problems that the police organization encountered in the newly occupied territory. The starting point of this work is the assumption that the occupying police institutions were not only based on the structure and methodology of work dictated by the Reich Security Main Office but also adapted to the conditions in the newly occupied territory. In addition to the relevant historiographical literature, completely new historical sources have been used, the main purpose of the article is to explain in principle the first phase of the existence of the German police in occupied Serbia as part of the process that led to the reform and creation of a much more complex police system in early 1942.

The Police Service as a Guardian of Public Security and Public Order in Contemporary Poland

Przegląd Strategiczny, 2013

1 There is an area where the scopes of both concepts overlap e.g. if the obligated entity does not clean the road when there is a glazed frost, it will thus not only disturb public order, but also cause a threat to public safety. There area also situations where the two concepts do not overlap, e.g. when the obligated entity does not mark its plot of land with a plate showing the number of the plot. Then, it disturbs public order, but cannot be really recognised as disturbing public safety. A similar situation occurs when night peace is disturbed. 2 W. Fehler, Bezpieczeñstwo wewnêtrzne wspó³czesnej Polski. Aspekty teoretyczne i praktyczne,