Polish anti-narcotics police deemed ineffective

The Polish Central Bureau of Investigation (CBS), the anti-drugs unit subject to the Polish police force, confiscated 864 kg drugs in 2013, a drop by one-third compared to 2012 when CBS confiscated 1,309 kg, the Polish media reported May 12, 2014.

“The production and smuggling of drugs remains one of organized crime’s main sources of income,” Adam Rapacki, former chief of the Polish Ministry of the Interior, told Polish daily Rzeczpospolita. “So the drugs have certainly not disappeared from the black market. If anything there might be more of amphetamine and marijuana on the market now than in previous years.”

“As far as marijuana is concerned, its consumption has recently increased drastically,” Piotr Jablonski, director of the National Bureau of Drug Prevention, told the paper.   

Experts point to a number of factors, which might have contributed to the lower detection rate. These could include the previous year’s staff changes, which resulted in several very experienced policemen quitting the force. Additionally, there has been a lack of incentive mechanisms (such as financial prizes for detecting a drug ring) in place and the recent changes in the organizational and staff structure of the unit.

Last year saw the CBS chief Adam Maruszczak quit the Bureau, which was followed by several new appointments of regional directors. And in March 2014 the CBS was organizationally excluded from the police force (although its finances still depend on the police’s budget), which is thought as a means to limit the unnecessary bureaucracy. As evidenced by the statistics, the changes are yet to improve the Bureau’s operations.