Society

Police reveals stats of crimes committed by foreigners in Poland

Illustrative photo by Adam Berry/Getty Images
Illustrative photo by Adam Berry/Getty Images
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The Polish police have published data on crimes committed by foreigners in the country last year. According to the statistics, Georgians are the most overrepresented foreign group per capita.

The police headquarters informed the Polish daily ‘Rzeczpospolita’ that 2,714 Georgian citizens committed crimes in Poland in 2023. The Office for Foreigners reports that there are over 27,000 Georgians legally residing in the country. This therefore equates to one in ten Georgian citizens having dealings with the law.

The most common crime committed by them is theft, for which 1,111 people were charged. Driving under the influence of alcohol accounts for 410; drug-related crimes for 361; and burglaries for 135.

The most serious crimes include: murders (8); rapes (12); and accidents (33). Each of the above-mentioned cases recorded a significant increase compared to 2022.
Georgian citizens were forced to emigrate and leave due to the difficult economic situation in the country. Some of the Georgian community have explained that some of the crimes are committed by Azerbaijanis, who specialize in producing false documents and stealing license plates in Georgia.

Other foreign groups

Statistically the largest number of foreigners represented in the data were Ukrainian citizens (2,288 people). They were followed by Georgia (901), Belarus (277), Moldova (228), and Russia (80).

The ranking of 15 countries whose citizens most often break the law also includes: Romanians: 69 people; Germans: 67; Bulgarians; 63; and the Czechs; 51 people. The next places are occupied by criminals from Latvia, Lithuania, Uzbekistan, Slovakia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Turkey.

Taking into account the number of foreigners residing in Poland legally, Georgians are the most overrepresented in crime statistics; currently, 22,000 of them have a valid residence permit, and 901 people are suspected of crimes. By comparison, there are four times as many Belarusians with the right of residence—88,000—and only 277 of them have been charged.

Ukrainians are overrepresented in drink driving statistics, as they constitute almost 70%. of all foreigners charged with driving under the influence of alcohol.

Statistically, Ukrainians constitute the largest number of people with allegations, but their presence in Poland is difficult to compare with that of citizens from other countries. In mid-2023, approximately 1.5 million Ukrainians were legally residing in Poland.

Prof. Brunon Hołyst, a criminologist, explained that raw statistics should not be taken at face value and that considering crimes committed per capita is a much more informative method.

“We have the largest number of Ukrainians, hence the impression that the crimes they commit are large. To find out the actual size of the phenomenon, it is necessary to examine the crime rate for each nationality, i.e., the number of crimes compared to the total population of people from a given country,” he stated.
Source: Rzeczpospolita
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