The opposition announces it will require explanations from the Minister of the Interior and the Minister of National Defence as regards the draft agreement between the police and the Territorial Defence Force. The document obliges the police to share information with the “territorials” nearly without any limits.
“At the Sejm’s internal affairs and national defence committee, we will ask the ministers about the details of this agreement. Its provisions are very disquieting, it’s a legal monster”, a Civic Platform MP, Marek Biernacki, former special forces coordinator, announces in an interview with tvn24.pl.
The draft agreement was prepared at the general headquarters of the Territorial Defence Force and at the Ministry of National Defence. Currently, the heads of the National Police Headquarters are waiting for feedbacks on its respective provisions from provincial commanders.
“We are very worried by how vaguely defined the scope of collaboration is. Well, what does it mean that we are supposed to share information with the Territorial Defence Force. The information we collect as part of our investigations, too? Or whose phones we are tapping right now?”, says one of the police officials, wishing to remain anonymous.
Indeed, the draft agreement contains such vague statements, for example in Article 2., which reads: “the scope of cooperation includes, without limitation:
1. Exchange of information,
2. Improving the methodology of performing official tasks and activities,
3. Collaboration on training,
4. Collaboration in emergencies,
5. Logistical support,
6. Undertakings other than listed in par. 1-5 as needed by parties”.
“I am worried by this next stage of involvement of the army in the state’s internal affairs. The draft agreement clearly shows that it is the intention of the authors of the Territorial Defence Force to use it for what is and will be going on in the Polish streets rather than for fighting an enemy army. Let me warn you that getting army embroiled in internal affairs has always ended up in tragedy and civilian casualties”, says former deputy head of the police and former Deputy Minister of the Interior, general Adam Rapacki.
Main Training
We asked questions about the purpose of the envisaged agreement, which were addressed by the spokesperson of the general headquarters of the Territorial Defence Force, lieutenant-colonel Marek Pietrzak.
“The purpose of the agreement is to create conditions for an efficient cooperation between institutions, solely within the framework of their statutory tasks. It is about formalizing the exchange of information on the planned sites of training, making the police headquarters aware, well in advance, of where the Territorial Defence Force soldiers are being trained; the specific nature of this army involves training outside training grounds and exercise areas. The exchange of information is also planned in the area of emergency response”, lieutenant-colonel Marek Pietrzak told us.
In his opinion, thanks to the agreement, the police will get to train in “military facilities” and soldiers “in police facilities”.
According to off-the-record information obtained by tvn24.pl, that is why the police is considering opting out of the enrolment of civilian students to fields of study related with internal security at the Police Academy in Szczytno. The spots vacated by civilians would be taken by Territorial Defence soldiers.
Search for missing persons
Meanwhile, according to lieutenant-colonel Pietrzak, the main object of the agreement is to ensure collaboration in emergencies, for example searching for missing persons.
“Using drones that Territorial Defence Force will have, or handling emergencies, including weather events”, argues lieutenant-colonel Pietrzak.
Tomasz Siemoniak, former deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Defence, who disclosed the wording of the envisaged agreement, commented on it this way: “Macierewicz and Błaszczak are building a new ORMO [communist-time volunteer paramilitary force]”, he wrote on one of social networking sites.
“With reference to selected comments and opinions, we categorically protest, once more, against public comparison of Polish Army soldiers to communist-time formations such as ORMO, which were built for the purposes of the communist apparatus of repression. We see such comparisons as tarnishing the good name of Polish Army soldiers. We wish to remind you that our mission is to defend and support local communities”, lieutenant-colonel Pietrzak informed us.
“Personal guard”, “informer ring”
Radomir Wit, a TVN24 reporter, collected, at the Sejm, comments of opposition parties’ politicians.
“People cannot see a uniformed soldier, also a soldier in the uniform of the Territorial Defence Force, as the one who checks what car they have in their garage or who they walk with in the street. This is a very bad direction, the army should not go there. And this agreement, which is still a draft and I hope it will not be signed, is going in this very direction. That of creating an informer ring, the two formations building a new ORMO”, said Tomasz Siemoniak.
“It seems that Antoni Macierewicz wants to introduce a kind of personal guard which will serve to suppress any social unrest or internal protests”, said Adam Szłapka (Nowoczesna).
“We cannot call the Territorial Defence Force Macierewicz’s army, because Macierewicz can be dismissed tomorrow and there will be a new minister there. The country’s Territorial Defence Force is, most of all, intended to serve our nation and I want to believe it”, said Marek Jakubiak (Kukiz'15). Agreement due this year
The TVN24 reporter tried to talk also to the ruling party’s politicians – Minister Błaszczak, Minister Macierewicz, Deputy Minister Bartosz Kownacki and Deputy Minister Jarosław Zieliński. However, none of them wanted to answer his questions.
Wit informs that the general headquarters of the Territorial Defence Force announce the agreement with the police is to be signed by the end of the year.
Autor: Robert Zieliński / Źródło: tvn24.pl/tłumaczenie Intertext.com.pl
Źródło zdjęcia głównego: tvn24