Police Competences’ in Preventing, Investigating and Combating Hate Crimes in Poland — Part I Justyna Jurczak Police Academy in Szczytno, Poland Abstract. The article is divided into two main parts. It refers to selected data on hate crimes recorded in Poland and Police effectiveness regarding preventing, investigating and combating such kinds of crimes. Based on available sources there is no problem with extremist activity in a large-scale in Poland nowadays, but for sure there is an urgent one with the increasing number of hate- motivated incidents, both with its social impact. Awareness-raising and educational campaigns that aim at promoting respect for human rights and tolerance for diversity are much needed in this matter. Also, law enforcement agencies, including Police, play a key role while tackling racism and bias. An uncontrolled and unpunished manifestation of hate, both with the lack of an appropriate and unequivocal state response to such incidents, also quiet, social approval to hate-motivated behaviours, seem to be t he main components of extreme movements growing. Thus, the main aim of the article was to describe the phenomenon of hate-motivated incidents that were reported in Poland within the past years and to diagnose Polish police officers’ skills, knowledge and qualification in this field, both qualitative analyses of accessible training programmes. Selected terms (racism, discrimination, intolerance, xenophobia and hate speech) and symbols (the Celtic Cross, the SS-Totenkopf and the Triskele) that promote hate were defined (part 1) both with Police officers’ identification accuracy. Research results presented in this article were gathered by using a variety of methods and techniques, both theoretical and empirical (part 2). The data that refers to Police competence in the context of preventing, investigating and combating hate crimes was mainly collected as a part of a doctoral research conducted by the author in 2012–2014. DOI: 10.5604/01.3001.0012.7528 http://dx.doi.org/10.5604/01.3001.0012.7528 Keywords: hate speech, hate crimes, Police, hate crime training Introduction The current situation in Europe, both political, economic and social, is strongly defined by views of groups and individuals, who often express their disapproval and call for radical changes in the existing order by referring to extreme ideologies and political doctrines. Extremism is nothing new in the 21st century — its etymological origin is of a much older date. It comes from the Latin where it means ‘final, extreme, ultimate’. In democratic systems, extremism is commonly identified with the pro- motion of political, social, economic and religious ideologies, whose achievement requires — in the opinion of extremists — a definitive measure. Extremi sm can thus be combined with many values; the most frequently includes the following: a far left or far right political position, race, also religion. What is more, many organizations of this kind act not only locally, but often a ttempt to work together across state bor- ders, becoming today one of the biggest challenges for the widely understood safety. A significant number of people in Europe is involved in a radical activity — they present their extreme views and promote slogans that might be linked to extreme movements such as e. g. the white supremacy movement. According to different research and reports, over the last 10 years there has been an increase especially in the right-wing motivated behaviour and nowadays it has been seen as a serious social problem, particularly in Hungary, Poland and Slovakia. Internal Security, January–June 271 Justyna Jurczak According to ‘Poland’s safety and security report’ published in 2014, 2015 and 20161 the severity of the domestic extremist organizations is rated as ‘relatively low’, and when it comes to the activities of extreme movements there are mostly about gatherings, protests and demonstrations, also publishing on the Internet. Althoug h recorded systematically, the incidents involving members of extremist groups are mostly acts of hooliganism nature. It is also pointed out that the left extremist activ- ity focuses mainly on radical information campaign (e. g. leaflets, posters), while the right-wing groups are more interested in infiltrating football hooligans groups. However, at the same time as stated e. g. in the Human Rights Committee report published in December 20162 “the reported increase in the number incidents of vio- lence, hate speech and discrimination based on race, nationality, ethnicity, religion and sexual orientation and the insufficient response by the authorities to such inci- dents” is one of the principal matters of concern when it comes to Poland. As there is no problem with extremist activity in a large-scale in Poland nowadays, there is for sure an urgent one with the increasing number of hate-motivated incidents. The uncontrolled and unpunished manifestation of hate, both with the lack of state response to such incidents and no consistency in punishing the offenders, also quiet, social approval to so-called ‘incidental’ behaviours, seem to be the mai n components of extreme movements growing. Thus, all possible measure should be used to eliminate or reduce any extreme ideologies and behaviours that are present in various spheres of life. Research methods The author’s intention and the main aim of this paper were to describe the phenomenon of hate-motivated incidents that were reported in Poland within past years and to diagnose Polish police officers’ skills, knowledge and qualification while preventing, investigating and combating such incidents both with accessible training programmes in this field. Research results presented in this article were gathered by using a variety of meth- ods and techniques, both theoretical and empirical. The data that refers to Police competence in the context of preventing, investigating and combating hate crimes was mainly collected as a part of a doctoral research conducted by the author in 2012– 2014. Author’s main interest while conducting these research was the effectiveness of police officers abilities while combating hate speech that appeared on Polish football stadiums. The main empirical method used then was the qualitative method of observation and a survey conducted on 795 police officers that were directly involved in ensuring safety during UEFA EURO 2012 held in Poland and Ukraine3. 1 Electronic source: http://www.antyterroryzm.gov.pl/CAT/antyterroryzm/publikacje/ raporty-analizy-i-prez/900,Zagrozenie-terroryzmem-z-Raportu-o-stanie-bezpieczenstwa-w- Polsce.html, accessed: 08.12.2017. 2 Human Rights Committee report concluding observations on the 7th periodic report of Poland. The meeting was held on 17–18th October 2016. Electronic source: https://www. rpo.gov.pl/pl/content/glossiness-zalecen-komitetu-praw-czlowieka-onz-z-vii-sprawozdania- okresowego-polski, accessed: 30.11.2017. 3 See more: Jurczak J., Działalność Policji wobec zjawiska stadionowej mowy nienawiści. Warsaw, 2015, pp. 6–7. 272 Internal Security, January–June Police Competences’ in Preventing, Investigating and Combating Hate Crimes in Poland — Part I Table 1 presents a detailed description of respondents that took part in the survey in comparison with the total number of police officers being on duty as for June 2013. The survey consisted of metric data and twenty two questions one of which was open ended, there were also sixteen questions closed ended and five half-open ended. Table 1. Description of respondents in comparison with the total number of police offi cers on duty in 2013 including sex, age, educational, years in service, unit, section and ranks No Sex Answers Sum Women Men No data 96 290 In total 13 280 83 010 --- (100%) 1. (14%) (86%) 186 599 10 795 Respondents (23%) (75%) (2%) (100%) Age < 25 y/o 25–30 y/o 31–40 y/o 41–50 y/o 50 y/o No data 96 290 4 895 21 202 46 015 21 990 2 188 In total --- (100%) 2 (5%) (22%) (48%) (23%) (2%) 71 534 63 5 0 122 795 Respondents (9%) (67%) (8%) (1%) (0%) (15%) (100%) Education Higher Secondary Primary No data 96 290 42 480 53 709 101 In total --- (100%) 3. (44%) (56%) (0,1%) 485 300 4 6 795 Respondents (61%) (38%) (0,5%) (0,5%) (100%) Years < 4 years 5 — 9 years 10 — 14 years 15 years < No data in service 96 290 (100%) 15 105 35 170 17 527 28 488 4. In total --- (16%) (37%) (18%) (29%) 795 693 29 29 38 6 Respondents (100%) (87%) (3,5%) (3,5%) (5%) (1%) Regional Local Police Police unit Main Police HQ Other No data Police HQ Police HQ stations 96 213* 2 956 11 467 48 963 23 610 9 217 5. In total --- (100%) (3%) (12%) (51%) (24%) (10%) 8 388 291 97 11 795 Respondents --- (1%) (49%) (36%) (13%) (1%) (100%) Police Investigation Prevention Support and logistic Supervisors No data section 96 213* 31 538 59 262 3 609 1 804 (100%) 6. In total --- (33%) (62%) (4%) (1%) 42 740 8 795 Respondents --- 5 (1%) 5%) (93%) (1%) (100% Police rank Lower rank Higher rank No data 96 213* 83 282 12 616 In total --- (100%) 7. (87%) (13%) 759 25 11 795 Respondents (96%) (3%) (1%) (100%) * doesn’t include positions financed by the local government Source: Author’s research based on data published by the National Police Headquarters on July 6th, 2013 (in total) in accordance to author’s survey (respondents). Internal Security, January–June 273 Justyna Jurczak For the purpose of this article, the analytic, synthesis, comparison and generali- zation methods were also used. Additionally, all data collected was cross-referenced with governmental and non-governmental reports and data, also media and state statements, such as newspaper and Internet articles when possible. Hate crimes and hate speech in Poland Bias-motivated incidents that were registered in Poland have very diff erent background: they are committed because of race, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orientation or disability.