Sejm increases police powers

The Polish parliament, or Sejm, decided to very much increase the arsenal of means police can apply in order to fight crime. The decision, still to be passed in the Senate and signed by President Aleksander Kwaśniewski, was not without its controversies.

If the bill takes effect, the police will able to obtain classified information from banks and telecommunication, freely perform so-called "police provocation" (eg making controlled purchase of illegal material) and equally freely make video and audio recordings in order to facilitate investigations.

Replying to the SLD's criticism that such huge privileges could easily lead to abuse, Internal Affairs and Administration Minister Mrek Biernacki said: "A fundamental bill has been passed; it remains in accord with regulation of the European Union and standards of human rights and it improves fight with crime." He added that the new bill would also help fight corruption as the police would from now on be entitled for "bribe provocation" (offering bribes to officials to check their honesty).

According to the chairman of Transparency International, Prof Antoni Kaminski, such expansion of the police rights is needed, but the police themselves should be supervised.

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