In July 2011, the Military Gendarmerie initiated some organisational changes to adapt to the process of the army professionalisation. The changes are heading in a good direction. The auditors fear, though, that despite liquidating the compulsory military service, and thus reducing the number of preventive tasks, the Prevention Department remained expanded in the Gendarmerie (62.6 percent of the FTE level in August 2011) from the times of the army conscription. According to NIK, the Military Gendarmerie should absolutely focus on strengthening the Investigation Division in the nearest future (currently 20 percent of the FTE level) so that it can effectively fight against crime in the army.
The Military Gendarmerie properly controls the soldiers’ discipline. In the audit period more than six thousand criminal cases were conducted, of which every second ended in indictment. At the same time, NIK points out that the Military Gendarmerie should strengthen its collaboration with other forces designated to ensure order and fight crime. The gendarmes should be more effective in collecting information on crimes and offences committed by soldiers in case the proceedings in those cases are conducted simultaneously by the Police, Prosecutor’s Offices or civil courts. The auditors also identified that the Military Gendarmerie lacked full knowledge of mass events and celebrations taking place in the areas subordinate to the Ministry of National Defence.
NIK positively evaluates the principles and mode of recruitment for the Military Gendarmerie. The Chief Commander and the Commanding Officers of individual units reporting to him fulfilled their obligations related to planning and organisation of training programmes for soldiers. They willingly used the assistance and experience of the Police, Polish Border Guard, Government Protection Bureau, Central Anticorruption Bureau, Internal Security Agency, and even experts in forensic medicine. In the course of the training programmes gendarmes streamlined their negotiation techniques, detention of dangerous criminals, fight against drug crimes, tactics of hearings, methodology of search and identification of human remains.
On the one hand, the Military Gendarmerie ensured a good training base. But on the other hand, the soldiers’ condition and attitude are not always good. A serious problem is their absence during the physical fitness tests. For example, in the Cracow Branch in 2010 more than 30 percent of soldiers did not take up the test (in most cases they submitted a sick note). The following year attendance during shooting exercises was low in the same unit - it did not exceed 70 percent. On some days only 20 percent of the group participated in such a training programme.
Problems related to the training programmes also appeared at the Special Operations Unit of the Military Gendarmerie in Warsaw. In the period 2008-2010, due to the lack of medical prevention measures 95 out of 350 shooting or mine and bomb disposal training programmes were not carried out. None of the five training programmes planned on the firing ground took place.
Another drawback of the Military Gendarmerie are deficits in the units’ equipment for the time of peace. They lack among others portable radio stations (24 percent), on-site radio stations (100 percent) and backpack radio stations (87 percent), and even command vehicles (21 percent). It is not good with the equipment and armament for the needs of call-up and war. The audit revealed that the deficits resulted mainly from the fact that the Military Gendarmerie Logistics Department was formed only recently and did not manage to replenish all of its reserves.
During the 24th change of the Polish Military Contingent KFOR in Kosovo too few gendarmes were sent there to perform the tasks allocated to them (the Military Gendarmerie Section included only two persons and it had to operate even 120 km from the base). Besides, they lacked specialist equipment. In that context an extensive registration system between the Section and the Headquarters was more of a problem than a help. Currently the Military Gendarmerie operates as the Polish Military Contingent in Afghanistan, where it provides training to the local security forces and protects the contingent. The NIK auditors emphasise that despite good results achieved there the system for gathering and popularising findings and experiences from gendarmes’ participation in overseas missions has not been implemented yet.
The audit also showed that the gendarmes from Cracow were very rarely present at the Balice airport during the departures of soldiers to the mission areas (or during their returns to Poland). There were nearly 1,700 such flights, whereas the Military Gendarmerie assisted the soldiers only in 49 cases. The gendarmes, whose duty is to perform preventive measures during the departures and arrivals of soldiers, explain that they did not know about them. Yet, the Commanding Officer of the 8th Air Base in Cracow explained that the effective regulations do not oblige him to inform the Military Gendarmerie of the planned flights to the mission area.
NIK also points to the non-adjusted law and the lack of procedures for the Special Operations Unit of the Military Gendarmerie in case of organising and executing overseas travels for persons from the Ministry of National Defence who are entitled to the bodyguard service. The regulations imposing a duty on the soldiers to wear a uniform while providing the bodyguard service (in some cases they did not observe that regulation) should be changed. Other problems appeared after dismantling the 36th Special Air Transport Regiment. The persons protected by the Military Gendarmerie may now travel by civil airplanes where the ban on transporting weapons is effective.
