On April 5, 2019, a new amendment to the act on the Police came into force. It created the sixth type of service within the Police – the counterterrorist service. This is another important change regarding Poland's internal security introduced by the government of the Law and Justice party, and at the same time one of the few that the opposition unanimously supported. This is also another significant step in the construction of the Polish antiterrorist subsystem.
ZBN Commentary no. 4 (46)/2019
5 April 2019
On April 5, 2019, a new amendment to the act on the Police came into force. It created the sixth type of service within the Police – the counterterrorist service. This is another important change regarding Poland's internal security introduced by the government of the Law and Justice party, and at the same time one of the few that the opposition unanimously supported. This is also another significant step in the construction of the Polish antiterrorist subsystem. The newly created counterterrorism service consists of policemen who had hitherto served in independent antiterrorist subunits and in the Bureau of Antiterrorist Operations. The latter was separated from the General Police Headquarters and transformed into the Central Counterterrorist Subunit of the Police “BOA”. It will be responsible for the unification of training, tactics and equipment of the counterterrorist service. The Police and the Ministry of the Interior and Administration argue that this centralization will not adversely affect the flexibility of counterterrorist activities. In this commentary the author discusses the genesis and the most important consequences of the adoption of the act.
In the photo: the emblem of the Bureau of Antiterrorist Operations. Source: http://www.policja.pl/pol/kgp/biuro-operacji-antyte