Grażyna Hanaf: – Good morning, everyone. Today we are joined by Bolesławiec Mayor Piotr Roman. Good morning, Mr. Roman.
Piotr Roman: – Good morning, ma’am, and good morning to everyone.
– Mr. Piotr, why does the municipal police in Bolesławiec not work on Sundays?
– It works like many municipal police forces do. I have a list here, a comparison: Bielawa, Lubań, Oława, Kłodzko, Dzierżoniów, Trzebnica, Złotoryja. All these institutions really work very similarly to ours, although sometimes even for fewer hours, because our municipal police work from Monday to Friday and on Saturday. We have six officers. To increase the amount and hours of work, we would simply have to spend more money. However, I think the foundation of this misunderstanding, often concerning the municipal police, is that the municipal police are not meant to replace the police. They deal with other matters specified in the Act on Municipal Police, mainly those that other institutions do not handle. You could say that it is the uniformed arm of the municipal office. Officials could also perform these duties, but then it would cost considerably more, and besides, officials do not have some of the powers that municipal police officers have.
– Exactly, Mr. Mayor. The problem is that the municipal police do what they do very well, because they rescue residents from wild animals that can enter private properties. But these animals do not know that it is Saturday or Sunday, especially Sunday. I have a case involving a woman from Bolesławiec who was bitten by a marten. It happened on Sunday, because no one was able to help her at all; the matter was only handled by the District Crisis Management Center, whose number we provided. And that is precisely the question: the municipal police are excellent at taking these animals away, but only from Monday through Saturday. That is the problem.
– In the case of situations involving animals, it should be—although I do not know whether it is—that calling the police should be enough. The police know that they must notify the veterinarian who has a contract with us. As for the animal itself; if someone has been bitten, naturally that means an emergency department or hospital, and that is outside our authority. I will put it this way: we would like to do it, but it is also a matter of costs, which we have to limit somehow. Please remember that, in addition to the six municipal police officers, we also employ several people who provide continuous city monitoring. This monitoring greatly assists both the municipal police and various other institutions, especially the police. Evidence often comes precisely from municipal police monitoring. And as for the matters handled by the municipal police… Of course, we have dealt with the problem of stray animals. It must be said clearly that we no longer have stray dogs wandering around as we once did. The municipal police are part of this, but so is the fact that, together with other municipalities, we created a very…
– So I have a question: will it be easier for you to persuade the police to finally inform people, since they did not tell the lady whom she could contact? Or to teach the animals that on Sundays they should stay in the forest and not enter private properties?
– The question is undoubtedly rhetorical. I will have to discuss this matter with the police chief. As you probably know, there is a new chief; he is not from Bolesławiec, so we simply have to establish these relations in a different way. I repeat once again: we have six municipal police officers, while the police command employs almost 200 people—that is 30 times more.
– And the monitoring. Because we have a problem, Mr. Mayor. I spoke earlier with mothers about a group of boys. Their leader is an 11-year-old, incidentally a newcomer. He came to Bolesławiec with his mother, who turned him into an ATM. I spoke with the mothers yesterday: these boys terrorize small children aged 10 and 11 who walk through the market square on their way home from school so badly that the children are terrified. The boy is uncontrollable, and his mother has a probation officer. Could the municipal police patrol the market square, perhaps with two officers, between 12:00 and 14:00? The mothers are asking because on Friday the boy confronted a child with his younger sister and said: “There’s no f***ing fun anymore, I’ll f***ing kill you in a moment. I won’t touch that little b**** because she’s too young. You have five seconds—run.” And he chased the child with a friend. Really extensive monitoring and regular patrols of the market square are needed.
– First of all, from what I know—although I was not aware of this particular case, I did know, because you once told me, editor, that there were several minors terrorizing their peers—the police have been notified. Indeed, they have probation officers, and the District Court has been notified. Apparently, although I have not yet checked this, one of them has been referred for treatment. As for… Their names have been identified. As for the direct use of coercive measures, this is primarily the police again, because we are talking about crime. Crime is the police’s domain. As for monitoring, we realize that it needs to be expanded and modernized. It was created as one of the first systems in the region; it has been modernized, but we need between several and 20 million zlotys for this purpose. Then monitoring would cover the entire city. I raised this issue with the Minister of National Defence and the prime minister, because we pointed out that it was also connected with security and the presence of American soldiers. So far, however, we have received no response, and I suspect we will not receive one from this government. That does not mean we will not apply for funding or co-financing for this project in future years. Such monitoring could automatically record events—I have already seen such systems in Western Europe—including tracking a car by its license plate: a car enters the city, a car leaves. This is not about spying; it is about the fact that sometimes a vehicle is connected with a crime.
– I wanted to ask whether it was visible on the monitoring system that these boys were attacking children. I do not know, throwing stones, for example. Was it reported through the monitoring system? Was it reported somehow? Do you know about it?
– I have information that it was reported to the police, but I do not know on the basis of what observation. I suspect it was the monitoring system, but does it concern this particular situation or another one? You know, yesterday I received this—here, this is just one daily report. I do not know whether it can be seen, but this is a two-page daily report covering various matters occurring in the city. It concerns, of course, things such as a streetlight not working, rubbish dumped somewhere, other issues, an area needing mowing, overgrown grass, or a blocked storm drain. These reports are submitted not only to me, but also to the institutions responsible for resolving the matter. Each time, I have them divided into unresolved matters, resolved matters, and matters in progress, assigned to various institutions, whether the police, a housing cooperative, or our MZGM.
– I just want to ask again: could officers be sent to the market square from 12:00 until at least 14:30 or 15:00? The children are terrified.
– Okay, but if they find out that officers will be there from 12:00 to 14:30, then what? I understand that the point is that the children finish school then, right?
– Yes, and they return through the market square. Perhaps then the boys will not roam around there?
– Please remember that every year, every year, municipal police officers carry out more than 3,000 inspections at educational institutions. That is a great deal. At the moment, we are working on this over the coming days. I think this will be important news for parents: the dog we purchased for the police command, which detects drugs, will visit all schools, both private and public. The Children’s Home and various other institutions as well. On the one hand, this will send a clear signal to those dealing with this matter, so there is quite a lot involved. I do not complain about cooperation with the police, but I want to say clearly that the municipal police are not a second police force. The police are there; for quite some time we managed to bring in additional police patrols as well, especially at times that were difficult for us, particularly on weekends. There were also situations, for example involving certain incidents connected with American soldiers, when additional police patrols came here at my request after the Lower Silesian Voivode had been informed.
– However, as far as we know, Mr. Mayor, the police also have several dozen vacancies. And they cover the entire county. That will be a problem.
– It is a problem that needs to be solved. Indeed, Bolesławiec and Zgorzelec are police commands that probably have the largest number of vacancies; in other words, there are no people willing to join the police. I do not want to explain why we have the most vacancies here. We all understand the cross-border location and so on. But I believe this is the government’s responsibility. The police are in no way subordinate to the mayor, so it is the responsibility of the minister of the interior…
– Unfortunately, we know that as a city and local government, we have no influence over this…
– We have little influence over it, and the police are not subordinate to the mayor.
– Changing the subject: I wanted to ask whether, as a citizen, you ever wanted to attend the Equality March. Our Bolesławiec ceramic workers took part in the Equality March.
– I was not in the city that day, and I said so at the time.
– But could you have arranged your calendar to take part in the celebration of equality?
– I assure you that the mayor’s calendar offers little flexibility when it comes to scheduling. However, we play a different role. Let us begin with the fact that there is freedom of assembly. In this respect, Poland is an exceptionally open country. In other words, the possibility of submitting a notification, with a package of documents, is essentially not subject to discussion. There was the Equality March, but, for example, several weeks before the notification of the Equality March, there was also a notification of a march concerning—please do not take offense, because I know this is important to you—the defense of the rights of residents of China who are persecuted there. We asked them to supplement the documents, and ultimately it did not take place. Yes, please remember…
– Why would I take offense at the people of China?
– I do not mean equating…
– No, absolutely not. I would not take offense.
– Please remember—I suspect you know the law on assemblies better than I do—but this is a task delegated by the voivode.
– Mr. Mayor, I asked whether you, as a citizen, would want to attend the March, but like the Queen of England, you diplomatically answered that you simply were not in the city. And are religious enthusiasts, for whom churches are not enough and who like to pray, especially under a banner depicting dismembered fetuses, somehow closer to you?
– Prayer has helped many people. I remember, for example, how my mother prayed while she was dying…
– But would you pray in the market square under a banner showing a dead child or fetus?
– I can say that several months ago there was an attempt to install banners with similar, very provocative content on some privately owned advertising structures—content that children, for example, should not have to see. There was an attempt to install them, and we amicably ensured that the banners did not appear. I learned about the banner that is, so to speak, a mobile banner brought to an event from you and passed the information on to the relevant institutions. Please remember that, in the case of marches or demonstrations of various kinds, the police are primarily responsible for assessing whether they comply with the law. The police notify our crisis management service, or the voivode’s crisis management service directly, because I emphasize that this is a task delegated by the voivode. As for people praying, people have been taking part in processions and praying for hundreds of years; I see nothing wrong with that. However, if there are… The mayor’s role is, above all, to ensure safety and that everything proceeds according to the law, so that everyone—let me emphasize, everyone—regardless of beliefs or any kind of orientation, has that right. Of course, provided they do not violate certain social or legal norms.
– And the law above all…
– In this matter, I do not think you have anything to criticize the actions of the Municipal Office or the police for. The police knew there would also be another demonstration, and it seems there were between 100 and 200 police officers present during it.
– No, we do not. That is why I asked about it privately. Mr. Mayor, I will change the subject once again…
– Privately, I will say this: I agree that everyone must be treated equally, regardless of sex, orientation, skin color, and so on. Over the past few years, I think I have demonstrated that I try—of course, I sometimes have worse days and different situations arise, but generally I try—to ensure that everyone is treated with respect, and that every local initiative in Bolesławiec also receives some kind of supportive response from the city.
– All right, Mr. Mayor. I will now change the subject to the local elections. What do you think of Szymon Pogoda, Maciej Małkowski, and Radosław Palczewski as your potential opponents? What scenario is currently on the table?
– I have no scenario. I know one candidate, and that candidate is Piotr Roman. Officially, however, I have no information about any other potential opponents. We will prepare, because please remember that this is also about a particular group of people. Please also remember that a mayoral election is not just the choice of one person; the team behind that person must also be shown. It seems to me that recent years have proved that Bolesławiec has taken off—at space speed, so to speak—because everyone envies us many things: cleanliness, order, economic development, and the lowest unemployment. The most important thing for me at this moment—and I wanted to boast about this on the occasion, since you are the first to hear it—is that I have just signed the draft budget for 2024. This is the result of the work of many people, and I will say this: it is an absolutely record-breaking budget, exceeding 340 million zlotys. We are reducing debt, taking on no new liabilities, and keeping fees, including waste collection fees, unchanged. We are maintaining free public transport, and other charges, such as residents’ taxes and the tax on remaining land, are not increasing. This represents a considerable effort in terms of a socially oriented approach. But the most important thing for me, or one of the most important things, apart from having managed to create this budget, is the 116 million zlotys allocated to investments. That is an incredible amount. 116 million, and we have 45 projects.
– I understand, Mr. Mayor—I understand: as much as 116 million. I wrote down the 116 million for investments. I understand that these are already the program points of Piotr Roman’s electoral committee. I really wanted to ask whether PiS will be your main opponent, or the Civic Coalition. What do you think? You must have some idea, because it is already March, April…
– My idea is that this is my final term, if I am successful, of course. Certainly my final campaign. The question is whether residents will decide that this approach to managing the city is good in managerial, political, and social terms, or whether alternative concepts will be presented. But I emphasize: alternative, positive concepts concerning the city’s development. A campaign should always be a forum for discussing what is good and what is bad. I do not claim that we are perfect, but compared with other cities, Bolesławiec has genuinely been experiencing a very good period recently. I was even discussing this today with people who had come here. And it is not just about simple benchmarking, comparing various indicators. Although a great deal of positive things are happening for Bolesławiec in this area, the way people perceive it and the direction in which we are moving are also important. This is not solely the mayor’s achievement…
– With that note about Bolesławiec’s development—I mean, with that optimistic note about Bolesławiec’s development—I will conclude today’s interview. Thank you very much for it. I think the city’s residents, and not only them, have learned many interesting things from it. Thank you very much.
– Thank you, and I invite you to the budget presentation, because there will truly be a great deal of very interesting information.
– And we invite you to the budget presentation. Thank you, everyone, thank you very much. Goodbye.
– Thank you. Goodbye.