Three regional police commanders to be dismissed

The successors to the heads of the three regional police commanders have not yet been appointed – they are expected to be named by Wednesday.

"We have been looking at their work and not everyone has managed to defend themselves, for various reasons," says our source from the National Police Headquarters (KGP).

"Nothing is given once and for all. The police are in a difficult moment and require changes," said a senior official from the Ministry of the Interior overseeing uniformed services, including the police.

According to our information – confirmed by independent sources – the decision has been made to dismiss the regional police commanders in Kraków, Kielce, and Rzeszów - Inspector Piotr Morajko, Inspector Jarosław Tokarczyk, and Inspector Grzegorz Napiórkowski.

The careers of the first two are connected to the Kraków police circles, in which General Mariusz Dąbek is considered a leader. He was chief of said district from 2012 to 2016. It is this relationship that may be one of the reasons for their dismissal.

General Dąbek was mentioned as one of the "iron candidates" to take the post of police chief after the United Right's loss of power. He literally failed at the last step - when it turned out that when he was retiring in 2016, the interior ministry's medical commission declared him unfit for service. Over the years, while on retirement, this meant a significant financial addition for Dąbek, but it also buried his chances for a return.

The initiative for the appointment of the Commander-in-Chief of Police then returned to the Deputy Minister of the Interior and Administration, Czesław Mroczek. This experienced MP (who had been in the Sejm since 2005) had previously focused on military issues. He made arrangements with several police officers whom he had not known before, and after discussions - to the surprise of the entire community - he decided to pick Marek Boroń.

After this nomination, journalists, as well as the Ministry of the Interior, were flooded with a series of anonymous letters attempting to reverse the decision. According to the KGP and the Ministry of the Interior, they came from the of the Lesser Poland police circles.

Additionally, for the first three months, Marek Boroń was appointed only as Acting Commander-In-Chief of Police

In the scenario following the collapse of Mariusz Dąbek's candidacy, General Michał Domaradzki, a former commander of the Warsaw Police Headquarters, was to become a fully nominated commander.

Ultimately, this nomination did not take place, because the general faced charges in a politically motivated investigation. The case was dropped only in May - two months after the "acting" position was removed and Marek Boroń was nominated as the Commander-In-Chief of Police by Prime Minister Donald Tusk.

"This 'acting' period undermined Commander Boroń's position. Poison pen letters and conspiracies emerged, internal police groups clashed. I believe that only now, after a series of dismissals that he had led to, these games will end," an experienced official from the Ministry of the Interior told tvn24.pl.

Our sources link other reasons to the dismissal of the head of the Świętokrzyskie police, Inspector Grzegorz Napiórkowski. During the government of the United Right, he headed the Criminal Bureau at the National Police Headquarters. This means that he had to be involved in the use of the Pegasus cyberweapon by the police.

Angelina Kosiek, a spokesperson for the Świętokrzyskie Voivode, confirmed in a conversation with the Polish Press Agency that, on Monday, the Commander-In-Chief sent a request to the voivode's office "asking for an opinion on the proposal to dismiss" Napiórkowski from his position.

"Voivode Józef Bryk has already familiarized himself with this request, and the response has already been sent to the National Police Headquarters. We do not comment on the reasons for this decision. This is the responsibility of the Commander-In-Chief of Police. We assume that, like any leader, he has the right to choose his collaborators," Kosiek added.

Successors to the three dismissed commanders are to be selected by the upcoming Wednesday. Meanwhile, sources of tvn24.pl believe that the next phase of the reshuffle at the highest levels of Polish police will come soon after the New Year - when several other regional police commanders may be dismissed.

The information about the procedure for the dismissal of the three regional police commanders was confirmed on Tuesday afternoon by the spokesperson of the KGP, Katarzyna Nowak. The Minister of the Interior and Administration, Tomasz Siemoniak, admitted that he had been informed about it but does not interfere in personnel matters.

"The Commander-In-Chief selects his collaborators," he added.