The topic of repeated German police presence on Polish territory has sparked controversy and numerous questions from journalists and residents of border areas. There is now new information on the matter from the Polish Ministry of Interior and Administration; it may cause considerable commotion.
The topic of German police presence in Poland gained prominence after Aleksandra Fedorska -- a commentator for Tysol.pl and editor-in-chief of Radio Debata, among other outlets -- directed an inquiry to the German police commissariat in Ludwigsdorf. It concerned the presence of a German patrol car that was patrolling the vicinity of the Polish side of the bridge in Zgorzelec.
In response, the German services cited an agreement between the governments of Poland and Germany from May 2014 concerning cooperation between police, border guard, and customs services. According to information provided by the German authorities, the rules of this cooperation were set out in the German Federal Law Gazette.
It turns out that the 2014 Polish-German agreement does indeed grant German services broad powers on Polish territory. Within the framework of joint patrols, they may, among other things:
The crux of the matter, however, is that for German police to carry out the above activities -- pursuant to Article 5 of the 2014 agreement -- Polish services must first submit a special, written request to the German services. A request from the Polish side is the fundamental condition for the German police to undertake any actions on Polish territory.
Meanwhile, on Thursday, Aleksandra Fedorska published information indicating that German police are likely carrying out operations in Poland without the knowledge or consent of Polish authorities. In light of this, she called for the documentation of every German patrol car spotted on Polish territory.
"Neither from the West Pomeranian nor the Lower Silesian provincial structures has a single request for assistance in the sense of Art. 5 of the May 2015 agreement been directed to the German side,"
reports Fedorska, adding that the information was obtained by Monika Rutke -- also a journalist for Tysol.pl. We read that only the Provincial Police Headquarters in Gorzow Wielkopolski, through the Polish-German Center for Cooperation of Border, Police, and Customs Services in Swiecko and the International Police Cooperation Unit of the Criminal Intelligence Division at the Gorzow Wielkopolski Provincial Police Headquarters, directs inquiries for assistance to the German side, primarily in an informational context -- in the first quarter of 2025, there were more than 400 such inquiries.
"Document every German patrol car on Polish territory -- we cannot rule out that they are in our country without the knowledge of our Polish authorities!!! (...) Please pay special attention to Zgorzelec, Kolbaskowo, and Tuplice! Please document every entry of the German police onto Polish territory and send it to us or publish it on X! Also write down the license plate numbers of these vehicles,"
Aleksandra Fedorska appeals.
