Frag Out! Magazine
Issue link: https://fragout.uberflip.com/i/1519846
According to the current legal framework, should mobilization be announced/during wartime, the Police may undergo militarization. However, that does not mean the policemen would be drafted, or sent to the frontline. Usually, the militarization translates into a change of the service's/non- military institution's profile. The employment relationship turns into a service relationship, and persons employed by the given organ or unit may be transferred to another position. Furthermore, persons from the outside may also be assigned to serve in the given unit, based on the organizational and mobilization assignment systems. These general principles have been modified for the Police, as the officers also serve during peacetime. However, the policemen turn into "wartime policemen" in such circumstances, and the key change here is that they remain in service until they are dismissed. One cannot simply leave the Police during the war. Furthermore, based on organizational/ mobilization assignments, persons who do not serve on a daily basis may be recruited and become a part of the Police force. In that way, mobilization growth happens. Retired policemen are a natural resource here. However, that principle is not always, automatically applied. Persons as such could have made a transfer from the Police, to the Armed Forces, or other uniformed services. On the other hand, the Police officers are, based on statutory grounds, excluded from the mobilization scheme. Former soldiers who became a part of the Police force will not be called for duty, in the event of war. Persons as such may also be requested to participate in exercises, as the Act on Homeland Defense stipulates. Exercises as such are periodically organized, at a small scale, as the publicly available information seems to suggest. For instance, the „Egida-22" exercise involved 780 persons. The previous editions involved 810 (2021), 1502 (2019), and 1714 (2018) participants. Furthermore, when it comes to HR, one more factor needs to be taken into account. Formally, the Police have been professionalized. In the past, it offered a possibility to serve as a „candidate", through conscription. This type of service was limited to the riot police. Those persons were given just some of the tasks, and had limited credentials, compared to the remainder of the Police officers. This rule is still valid today, even though its existence is just formal today. The possibility to enroll in „replacement service" has been retained, should conscription be reinstated - also in armed services. The service period is defined as 12 months here, with a garrison system put in place. The officers engaged in this type of service can only carry out administrative and public order-related proceedings. This is a revival of a past solution. Summing it up, at the statutory level it was noticed that wartime will influence the functionality of the Police, however, this does not redefine the tasks handled by the Police completely, although the wartime threats will have an impact on the tasks set. Full-scale war will probably translate into the greatest change. Challenges within the scope of ensuring safety and order will be huge in circumstances as such. Massive movements of the population leaving the areas threatened by warfare may be expected, should these movements be planned or not - Eastern Voivodeships will be the affected areas for Poland. On the other hand, military movements, and military logistical networks will need the routes they are going to be using to be free of congestion. The state territory would also be targeted by airstrikes and missile strikes. Enemy recon and sabotage squads would also conduct operations in the affected region. Countering them will be among the key tasks assigned to the Police - it would be working hand-in-hand with the Territorial Defense Forces here. At the same time, common and organized crime activities would still be an issue that shall be dealt with. New forms of crime will also occur. Unfortunately, even in tragic, rough times, some people may still try to leverage the circumstances of the tragedy. Criminal activities targeting the evacuated population, or the victims, or attempts made at committing break-ins in destroyed or abandoned houses may be expected as well. Organized crime will evolve. This would be caused by drastic limitations imposed on international traffic which will interrupt trafficking. During the war, this may also translate into a shortage of goods, especially basic ones. This, in turn, will create a new black market space. All of the above means that Police will need to be reinforced during wartime, significantly. One should hope that the existing, and plans covering the management of Police personnel resources and reserves will take those challenges into account. Hybrid warfare, different from conventional war, is another scenario that could be considered here. This scenario assumes that open aggression would be replaced by activities below the threshold of an open war - such as pushing refugees and migrants over the border, protest-related ANALISYS