In the audited period, the Police used more than 5.5 thousand facilities and the Border Guard above 700. More than a half of these properties (54.9 percent in case of the Police and 63.5 percent in case of the Border Guard) required urgent renovations and repairs. The inspection made by the auditors showed that the technical condition of the services’ facilities is bad, and in some cases even disastrous. The auditors identified e.g. leaky roofs and windows, damaged and worn-out carpets as well as flaky paint on the walls and ceilings. The sanitary and hygienic conditions were also poor. As a consequence, the facilities’ condition did not ensure proper working conditions to officials or decent service conditions to citizens.
The current outlays from the state budget do not guarantee that the Police or Border Guard will maintain the property in a non-deteriorated condition, much less allow for gradual improvement of the situation. From January 2009 to June 2011, the Police spent the total of PLN 758.9 million (3.6 percent of total expenditures) on investments, modernisation and renovations. The Border Guard spent PLN 234.7 million on these purposes (5.1 percent of total expenditures). The amount of funds allocated to those needs is not constant and is re-established every year. And so, e.g. in 2009, which was the record year for the Police in this respect, it was PLN 542.4 million, in 2010 it was only PLN 189.1 million and in the first half of 2011 that amount totalled PLN 27.4 million. The trend is similar in the Border Guard – after huge outlays of 2009 (PLN 156.5 million), the amounts went down visibly: to PLN 75 million in 2010 and PLN 3.3 million in the first half of 2011[1].
According to NIK, to stop the advanced process of damaging facilities, two-way actions need to be taken: not only to boost the outlays but also to enhance the method of dividing them. For instance, the appropriately scheduled concentration of funds would make it possible to gradually satisfy the needs of subsequent units.
The execution of tasks under the Modernisation Programme for the Police and Border Guard implemented in 2007 brought partial but noticeable improvement of housing conditions for service and work. However, the estimates of the Police Headquarters show that slightly more than PLN 2 billion would be needed to obtain a proper technical standard in official facilities of the Police. With the present spending level it will take at least a few more years.
High maintenance costs of the Police facilities are additionally raised due to the need to store physical evidence after the end of the court proceedings (the courts and the prosecutor’s office do not want to keep it). The Ministry of Internal Affairs has already identified the problem and announced it would take joint actions with the Chief Commander of the Police in order to solve it.
NIK also points out that the principles of using practice shooting ranges and their technical conditions be specified precisely. For nearly twenty years, the Minister of Internal Affairs has been responsible for this issue, however policemen still use shooting ranges based on the decision of the Chief Commander of the Police and the border guards – only based on general regulations, e.g. the construction law.
[1] In line with the plan, the most funds were paid to the units located along the Poland’s Eastern border – external border of the EU: Bieszczadzki BG Regional Unit (PLN 44.5 million, 28.6%), Warmińsko-Mazurski BG Regional Unit (PLN 26.4 million, 17.0%), Podlaski BG Regional Unit (PLN 25.3 million, 16.3%).
