Police World Edition 4, 2013

Article

In March 2013 four police officers from Silesia, Poland took part in a professional exchange in Cambridgeshire. Witamy w Cambridgeshire

T he four officers from Section Poland: Janusz Trzesimiech, Komisare Jakub Skrzypek, Marek Dzierzega and Adam Stepczynski spent six days in England to gain a better understanding of how policing in Britain is done. For the officers this visit to the Fenland area, which has a population of migrant workers from Eastern Europe, gave them the opportunity to see how migrants view the police in the UK. It also allowed the Polish officers to see how British officers deal with a range Detective Inspector. They also learned about the training and deployment of the taser and had the opportunity to discharge them on the range. The four in return demonstrated their self-defence skills to a group of student officers at the force’s Officer Safety Training Unit. After visiting the force control room they also spent time with representatives from a drugs intervention scheme, which works closely with the police in Peterborough. It was then time to meet up with the Fenland Police Commander, Chief Inspector Mike Winters, who said, “We understanding of the policing culture in Poland. It is so very different to how we approach it. It has been fascinating.” The Polish guests were then introduced to the Mayor of March, Jan French, and presented her with a bottle of Bison Grass vodka. In return the officers were presented with a traditional police helmet and truncheon. It wasn’t all work however and in the short time available members from of policing activities from traffic collisions to crime investigation. The officers met Simon Parr, the Chief Constable of Cambridgeshire, some collision investigators and an area do have a significant migrant community here. It has been interesting to get a better

Cambridgeshire branch allowed time for their guests to visit London - which included a private tour of the Houses of Parliament, lunch in China Town and an evening with the Yeoman Warders of HM Tower of London. A traditional full English breakfast and an evening in a haunted riverside pub near St Ives rounded off the social side of the visit. The exchange of experiences and information threw up some interesting differences between policing styles in Poland and the UK. While British police rely heavily on technology, for example automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) and laser recording of serious road traffic collision scenes, the Polish police have the benefit of higher police numbers. On an everyday domestic level the Polish police officers were taken aback by some of the more mundane items of technology – namely separate hot and cold taps and pull cord light switches! The Polish officers reported that the perception of police in Poland is generally positive, with 70 per cent of people supporting the police, even though they have a more direct approach in their policing methods. I am keen to encourage other branches to consider arranging similar professional exchange visits. I can recommend that each visit is a great opportunity to promote the IPA among serving officers and staff and raise the profile of the IPA with senior officers - although they do take a lot of planning and work, it is worth it. A return visit to Silesia by serving officers and staff from Cambridgeshire is taking place in September. Another

At Downing Street during the trip to London

In the control room

Sampling some local refreshments

visit by Polish officers is also scheduled for the New Year. Steve Bretherton , Cambridgeshire branch

Editor’s note: ‘Witamy w’ translates as ‘welcome to’.

Police World Vol 58 No.4 2013

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