Imagine a municipal police officer as a referee who, until now, could only blow the whistle and send the matter “higher up.” They saw a foul but could not show a card themselves—they recorded everything and passed it on to the police or court. After the changes, they will receive their own whistle, cards and the ability to independently rule on simple offenses: driving against the direction of traffic, driving across a pedestrian crossing or littering the road.
New powers in road traffic
The government bill assumes that municipal police officers will be able to respond independently to offenses that until now most often ended with the case being referred elsewhere. In practice, this includes driving against the direction of traffic, driving across a pedestrian crossing, and polluting or littering the road. For Bolesławiec, a city through which transit traffic travels along a national road and where pedestrian crossings in the central area can be particularly sensitive, this is a change that drivers will feel in everyday situations.
The officer will ask who was driving the car
One of the most significant changes concerns information about the person entrusted with a vehicle. Until now, requests for such data were associated mainly with the police and a specific road-traffic case. After the amendment, municipal police officers would also have the right to request this information in situations unrelated to traffic control. This means that the explanation “I wasn’t driving” will no longer be an automatic way to end the matter.
A body camera instead of one person’s word against another’s
Officers will be able to record video and audio during interventions. The ministry explains this as an effort to improve the quality of evidence and protect the officers themselves from complaints. From a resident’s point of view, it is a double-edged sword—on the one hand, it will be harder to challenge an unjustified intervention; on the other, a recording may also incriminate a driver who previously counted on a dispute becoming their word against the officer’s.
Not only drivers
The amendment is not limited to road traffic. The bill provides for an expanded catalogue of direct coercive measures, changes to the rules for supervising municipal police forces, and the transfer of some powers from regulations directly into the statute, which raises their legal status. The whole package is intended to adapt the 1997 regulations to the modern realities in which the service operates.
When will the changes come into force?
The bill provides for adoption by the Council of Ministers in the fourth quarter of 2026, but this is only the government stage, not the date on which the new regulations will take effect. After adoption, the text would go to the Sejm, where in 2027 it would undergo readings, committee work and a vote, followed by the President’s signature and publication in the Journal of Laws. After publication, several to a dozen or so months of vacatio legis would usually have to be added, especially since the amendment covers training and equipment for municipal police forces. In practical terms, the new regulations would therefore first take effect around 2027–2028. It must be clearly stated that this is only an approximate scenario based solely on the government timetable.