Police officers from the Jelenia Góra Voivodeship visited ESBJERG this year at the invitation of the Danish police. The fifth-largest city in Denmark, located on the North Sea, is the country’s largest port and has 84,000 inhabitants.
Among those who departed were also two police officers from our town: Superintendent Paweł Górzyński, deputy chief of the District Police Headquarters in Bolesławiec, and Superintendent Zdzisław Mirecki, who holds the same position in Lwówek Śl.
The Danes introduced our law enforcers to their structure, operations, working methods and equipment. It is worth knowing that the efficiently operating Danish police force has 10,300 officers of various specialties. Around one thousand applicants apply every year; after rigorous tests, 200 candidates are admitted directly to the three-year police academy. Subsequent promotions depend on completing a management course and serving for at least ten years.
During direct contacts, it became clear that Danish police officers enjoy genuine authority in their country and have ranked second in public-opinion surveys for years, after the Queen of Denmark. The slogan “we are your police” accompanies everything the Danish officers do. They want residents to understand that the police are not only there to pursue, punish and harass, but above all to protect and care for citizens. They support their activities, among other things, by publishing the monthly magazine “Your Police”, aimed at all the country’s residents.
The difference in the approach to police work in Denmark and Poland is fundamental. We still deal only with the consequences. We begin action when a crime (offense) is reported, or we pursue a thief. Our police are assessed mainly by their so-called detection rate. It determines whether our police are considered efficient and effective.
In Denmark, the situation has been reversed. There, preventing crime and all manifestations of public-order violations has been recognized as the most important task. Activities begin already in kindergartens and continue in schools. Here, even units of the Youth Traffic Services have disappeared from schools, along with road-safety topics from school curricula. Is it any wonder that the number of accidents involving minors has been increasing for years? During their stay in Denmark, our police officers envied their colleagues many things—not only their technical equipment and working conditions, but even more the fact that the voice and opinion of the police really matter in Denmark. Important decisions for a city or region are not made without asking the opinion of public-order specialists.
The experience gained from the police visit cannot be immediately transferred to our own circumstances. There are several reasons, the main ones being a change in mentality, changes to legal regulations that have bureaucratized our activities, and a lack of funds for the technical equipment of police units.
The tangible result of the visit is already a different approach and perspective among the police officers who went to Denmark. It is also significant that our officers joined the International Police Association (IPA). For now, they have joined as the Polish section within the Danish part of the IPA, but more on that on another occasion.