Crime in Poland

Crime in Poland is lower than in the Western Europe, although the Polish society feels as endangered and affected as their Western counterparts.

The crime rate is the highest in the Upper Silesia, where both the earnings and the unemployment is the highest and the number of social deviations is growing.

Organized crime

While local organized crime in Poland existed during the interwar period, it has mostly developed during the time of fall of communism (late 1980s/1990s) with the introduction of capitalist system in Poland and the lessening of the police (milicja) power. Currently the so-called Polish mafia has two major groups: the Pruszków Mafia and the Wołomin Mafia.

Crime in Poland by city

List of Polish cities most affected by crimes

No.	City	Number of crimes per 100,000 inhabitants
1.	Katowice	7063,7
2.	Chorzów	6733,3
3.	Legnica	6361,5
4.	Kalisz	6228,2
5.	Gdańsk	6133,7
6.	Poznań	6109,2
7.	Wrocław	5983,4
8.	Kraków	5974,2
9.	Kielce	5926,6
10.	Gliwice	5733,5
11.	Opole	5649,8
12.	Włocławek	5626,9
13.	Warszawa	5353,2
14.	Bytom	5332,5
15.	Elbląg	5328,1
16.	Zielona Góra	5193,2
17.	Tarnów	5187,3
18.	Gorzów Wielkopolski	5156,6
19.	Szczecin	5120,9
20.	Toruń	5120,2
21.	Łódź	5116,4
22.	Sosnowiec	5051,7
23.	Bielsko-Biała	4969,1
24.	Lublin	4968,7
25.	Zabrze	4808,8
26.	Wałbrzych	4710,2
27.	Dąbrowa Górnicza	4690,8
28.	Radom	4670,1
29.	Bydgoszcz	4515,1
30.	Rybnik	4500,7
31.	Gdynia	4328,1
32.	Olsztyn	4317
33.	Koszalin	4004,7
34.	Ruda Śląska	3945,3
35.	Rzeszów	3890,9
36.	Tychy	3842,7
37.	Częstochowa	3786,5
38.	Płock	3262,5
39.	Białystok	2977

Further reading

• Emil Pływaczewski, Organised Crime in Poland: Its Development from 'Real Socialism' to Present Times in Cyrille Fijnaut, Letizia Paoli, Organised Crime in Europe: Concepts, Patterns and Control Policies in the European Union and Beyond, Springer, 2004, ISBN 1402026153
• S. P. Bartnicki, CRIME IN POLAND: TRENDS, REGIONAL PATTERNS AND NEIGHBOURHOOD AWARENESS, in David J. Evans, David T. Herbert, The Geography of Crime, Routledge, 1989, ISBN 0415004535
• Carl B. Klockars, Sanja Kutnjak Ivkovic, Maria R. Haberfeld, Crime in Contemporary Poland in The Contours of Police Integrity, Sage Publications Inc, 2003, ISBN 0761925864
• Organized crime in poland: how to combat it?, European Journal on Criminal Policy and Research, Volume 2, Numbers 2-3 / June, 1994, 0928-1371 (Print) 1572-9869 (Online)

See also

• Football hooliganism in Poland
• Polish Mob (in United States)