Crime in Poland

Crime in Poland is lower than in many countries of Western Europe. The 2005 surveys placed Poland below the European average, with victimisation rate lower than in Ireland, England and Wales, Iceland, Northern Ireland, Estonia, Netherlands, Denmark, Switzerland, Belgium, Sweden and Norway.^[1] Newer studies (2009) report that the victimisation rate in Poland is constantly decreasing, and in 2008 Poland was 25th among 36 European countries.^[2][3] Nevertheless, the 2004 report on security concerns of European Union residents indicates that most afraid of crime is the population of Poland (along with Greece), which does not at all correlate with the actual crime threat.^[4]

Car theft rate in Poland is about the European average and it is lower than in England and Wales, Portugal, Northern Ireland, Denmark, Bulgaria, Ireland, Spain, Netherlands, Iceland, Sweden, Italy and Norway.^[5]

The crime rate is the highest in the Upper Silesia, where both the earnings and the unemployment is the highest and the number of social deviations is growing.

Organized crime

While local organized crime in Poland existed during the interwar period, it has mostly developed during the time of fall of communism (late 1980s/1990s) with the introduction of capitalist system in Poland and the lessening of the police (milicja) power. Currently the so-called Polish mob has two major groups: the Pruszków Mob and the Wołomin Mob.

Crime in Poland by city

List of Polish cities most affected by crimes^[6]

No.	City	Number of crimes per 100,000 inhabitants
1.	Katowice	7063,7
2.	Chorzów	6733,3
3.	Legnica	6361,5
4.	Kalisz	6228,2
5.	Gdańsk	6133,7
6.	Poznań	6109,2
7.	Wrocław	5983,4
8.	Kraków	5974,2
9.	Kielce	5926,6
10.	Gliwice	5733,5
11.	Opole	5649,8
12.	Włocławek	5626,9
13.	Warszawa	5353,2
14.	Bytom	5332,5
15.	Elbląg	5328,1
16.	Zielona Góra	5193,2
17.	Tarnów	5187,3
18.	Gorzów Wielkopolski	5156,6
19.	Szczecin	5120,9
20.	Toruń	5120,2
21.	Łódź	5116,4
22.	Sosnowiec	5051,7
23.	Bielsko-Biała	4969,1
24.	Lublin	4968,7
25.	Zabrze	4808,8
26.	Wałbrzych	4710,2
27.	Dąbrowa Górnicza	4690,8
28.	Radom	4670,1
29.	Bydgoszcz	4515,1
30.	Rybnik	4500,7
31.	Gdynia	4328,1
32.	Olsztyn	4317
33.	Koszalin	4004,7
34.	Ruda Śląska	3945,3
35.	Rzeszów	3890,9
36.	Tychy	3842,7
37.	Częstochowa	3786,5
38.	Płock	3262,5
39.	Białystok	2977

See also

• Football hooliganism in Poland
• Polish Mob (in United States)

References

1. ^ J. van Dijk, J. van Kesteren, P. Smit, Criminal Victimisation in International Perspective, Key Findings from the 2004-2005 ICVS and EU ICS, WODC 2007
2. ^ A. Siemaszko, B. Gruszczyńska, M. Marczewski Atlas przestępczości w Polsce 4, Instytut Wymiaru Sprawiedliwości, 2009
3. ^ E. Siedlecka, Lawinowy spadek przestępczości, Gazeta Wyborcza, 2.3.2009
4. ^ J. van Dijk, R. Manchin, J. van Kesteren, S. Nevala, G. Hideg The Burden of Crime in the EU Research Report: A Comparative Analysis of the European Crime and Safety Survey (EU ICS) 2005
5. ^ J. van Dijk, J. van Kesteren, P. Smit, Criminal Victimisation in International Perspective, Key Findings from the 2004-2005 ICVS and EU ICS, WODC 2007
6. ^ Wprost, June 2006

Further reading

• Emil Pływaczewski, Organised Crime in Poland: Its Development from 'Real Socialism' to Present Times in Cyrille Fijnaut, Letizia Paoli, Organised Crime in Europe: Concepts, Patterns and Control Policies in the European Union and Beyond, Springer, 2004, ISBN 1402026153
• S. P. Bartnicki, CRIME IN POLAND: TRENDS, REGIONAL PATTERNS AND NEIGHBOURHOOD AWARENESS, in David J. Evans, David T. Herbert, The Geography of Crime, Routledge, 1989, ISBN 0415004535
• Carl B. Klockars, Sanja Kutnjak Ivkovic, Maria R. Haberfeld, Crime in Contemporary Poland in The Contours of Police Integrity, Sage Publications Inc, 2003, ISBN 0761925864
• Organized crime in poland: how to combat it?, European Journal on Criminal Policy and Research, Volume 2, Numbers 2-3 / June, 1994, 0928-1371 (Print) 1572-9869 (Online)