How to officially notify the Police about an offence
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If you were a victim of an offence (misdemeanour, assault, felony, crime) – for instance your money, phone were stolen or you were physically assaulted or deceived or else if you were an eyewitness of such incident , REPORT THIS CRIME TO THE POLICE IMMEDIATELY .
Where can I do it?
The best place to report a crime is your local Police station or nearest Prosecutor’s office. You can do it in writing or verbally.
Verbal notification made to the Police means telling a police officer or a prosecutor your account of an alleged incident. After you have told exactly what happened, you may be interrogated as a witness. Both notification and interrogation will be taken down in writing in a form of a statement that will be recorded by a Police officer or a Prosecutor. At the end, this statement must be signed by you.REMEMBER!
- Any person that has knowledge about an offence is entitled by statute to notify the Police about it, regardless of their age, gender, ethnicity, identity or nationality. If you do not speak Polish, the statement will be taken with an assistance of a competent interpreter.
If you do not speak Polish, you can bring a friend who speaks and writes in Polish and who will interpret your words for the Police – a notification or statement made through the interpreter will have the same legal effect. Coming with your own interpreter will actually make things easier and will considerably shorten waiting time necessary to take your recorded statement. Otherwise, the Police would have to send for a professional interpreter, which can take some time. Please remember that a person who witnessed the incident you are about to report to the Police, may not act as an interpreter for that case.
If you are a person with hearing or speech impediment, an expert witness, relevant to your disability, will be called to help you in the proceedings.
- According to the Polish law, a person over 17 years-of-age who notifies the Police of an alleged offence, is thoroughly informed about the following; criminal liability arising out of making a notifications, in case of false accusations or making false testimony pursuant to art. 238 k.k.1, art. 234 k.k., art. 233 § 1 k.k. art
If you wish to notify the Police in writing, the document including all the information you want to share with the Police should be left at or sent to the nearest Police station or Prosecutor’s office.
The written notification should include:
- your name and surname
- your parents' name as well as your mother's maiden surname of
- date and place of birth
- address of ordinarily reside
- PESEL number (if you have one)
- serial number and number of an identification document (i.e. passport)
- name and surname of the alleged victim, if the incident does not refer to you, as well as time and place of the incident
- if possible, the most exact description of the facts alleged
- if the offence resulted in any material loss of property – approximate value,
- details of witnesses plus any other relevant information regrading possible witnesses,
- on any evidence that might be in your possession, especially when there is a risk that they may be lost or damaged
- if it is possible – name suspect of an alleged offence
- the document should be dated and signed.
The notification should contain as much facts as possible. If you think you are able to describe it all yourself and it does not require immediate action, you can send it via e-mail, fax or bring it in person to the nearest Police station.
IMPORTANT!
The notification must be taken from you by any Police officer at the police station and if you decide to do it verbally, the protocol has to be prepared. But you will not know who is in charge of the proceedings until you receive a letter to the address given when submitting the notification. This is why, if you are a victim or a witness to a crime, you are obliged to notify the authorities about any change of your address!
Notifying the police of a crime/offence means you are going to have some responsibilities, too. If you are a victim and a witness at the same time, there will be more onus put on you.
Responsibilities of a witness:
A witness is obliged to show up at the police station or prosecutor’s office every time they are called for. If you do not show up and you do not have any valid excuse (i.e. doctor’s note) or if you leave the police station prior to termination of all the proceedings, or willingly refuse to submit required testimony for no apparent reason, you may be fined up to 10 000 PLN as well as a warrant may be issued for your detention and compulsory appearance. (art. 285 § 1 i 2 k.p.k.)
Responsibilities of a victim:
If you are a victim of a crime or an offence and are currently living abroad, you are obliged to identify your service address in the jurisdiction, in other words to authorise someone else in Poland to collect your mail. If you fail to do so, your mail will be delivered to the last known address in Poland or if such address is missing, said correspondence will be appended to the court files and will be deemed as properly served on you. (art. 138 k.p.k.). Any change of the place of residence or stay without notifying the police will result in sending letters to the previously given address and correspondence is considered delivered.
Notifying of a crime/offence that was not committed and false accusations
Before you notify the police of a crime/offence, you will be informed about provisions of two important penal code articles: under art. 238 k.k you shall be liable for notifying the Police of a crime/offence that was not committed and under art. 234 k.k. you shall be liable for any false testimony you may give .
- You have to know, that you are only held responsible for the aforementioned only if you mislead on purpose. You will not be charged if your testimony was as a result of a misconception or the conclusions based on what you witnessed were incorrect).
- This is why it is so important that your description of events is full and detailed and for you to say everything that you know about the circumstances of the crime without fearing any legal consequences. This may help the Police to get on the right track from the very beginning, which in turn will make their actions more effective.
Stolen property
If your property, such as electronics, bicycle or phone were stolen, as a result of a prohibited act, please take any documents that will help identify the original numbers of the given item. This will help with immediate registration in the police database of stolen property, which will increase the chances of getting it back. Of course such data can be presented to the police later, if they are not at your disposal.
If the property that you lost did not have any original numbers on them (i.e. piece of art, painting) but you have pictures – please take it with you to the police station, they will be included in the documentation of the case.
Witnesses, evidence, additional information
When you submit your notification of an offence, please give all the information you consider helpful, including the data on any potential witnesses. If you do not know their names, you can say for example: „the witness was a man in a nearby kiosk who tried to stop offender himself”. Such information will help the police identify the witness and interrogate him. Make sure to share any other information that can be useful, such as if there was a CCTV camera anywhere or a security personnel in the nearby building etc.
If you were injured and taken care of at a hospital, please make sure to bring any documentation produced during your visit in the healthcare facility. Such documents will give the Police valuable information about what type of injuries you suffered, the scope and type of medical assistance that was given to you and who the doctor was. These documents will be important when it will be decided what kind of an offence you were a victim of.
If possible, please try to secure any evidence or traces that the offender had left. Sometimes it can be very simple, small things – if you find gloves lost by the offender on the ground, the best thing to do is to cover them up with something, so that it does not rain or snow on them.
Never clean or change the position of any objects!
The only thing you can do is trust the police officers. If you have doubts about what they do or refrain from doing on site, just go ahead and ask them. It is also important to enquire about your rights and obligations. Find out how you can help, too.