Crime story
At 6:20 p.m. last Friday, a male voice came on the squad-car radio sounding an all-patrol alert: Keep on the lookout for a metallic gray, Mercedes 124, stolen from a Thai diplomat in Wilanow. Use caution. The men are armed.
"Armed robberies, it is something new," commented patrolman Krzysztof Kawka as he drove his squad car down ul. Grochowska in south Praga. "I remember my first case: 1992," said the 10-year veteran of Warsaw's police force. "A robbery of a kantor. At the beginning, I couldn't believe it. I thought somebody was making a joke."
But since then armed robberies have become a modus operandi in Warsaw, and the business community is buzzing with the news.
On Jan. 18, Ian Troop, general manager of Procter & Gamble Operations Polska SA, received a phone call from his wife.
She and their two children had just gotten into the family's four-wheel-drive when two men approached, he said.
It was daytime on a main thoroughfare. The two men walked up to the car and tried the doors. When they discovered the doors were locked, one man brandished a gun at her driver's side window. After she unlocked the door, the other man jammed the gun to her temple.
She got away with her children, but lost the car.
In neither of these two recent cases have the autos been recovered. Nor was anyone hurt. But Troop says he worries about the "dramatic escalation" of carjackings.
"The prospect of one of these guys some day losing his cool ... The chance of someone getting hurt in one of these situations is so high," Troop says. "It's a concerning development." Although overall crime in Warsaw increased only 2% last year, reports of armed robberies indicate that the city is becoming increasingly unsafe and the price of security is adding to the cost of doing business.
Armed robberies in Warsaw increased almost 20% in 1995, from 2,820 cases in 1994 to 3,374, according to the Warsaw police. Property theft increased about 15% and accounted for about one in every three of the nearly 100,000 crimes reported last year. Car thefts alone, which make up 15.7% of total reported crimes, were up 17% in 1995 compared to the previous year.
Rising costs
The rising rate of armed robbery is adding to business costs and living expenses in Warsaw.
To gain peace of mind, families and companies are hiring security services. It's a growing business in Warsaw (See related article, page 5) and the monthly cost for a guard providing 24-hour, residential security service ranges from zl. 4,320 to zl. 6,480 ($1,800 to $2,700), says Stanislaw Gregosiewicz of Komandos security services in Warsaw.
Moreover, car insurance is on the increase, a move that could slow down the car-rental and car-buying business.
Polish insurance giant Powszechny Zaklad Ubezpieczen SA charges 30% more for auto coverage for Warsaw residents than for other parts of Poland. "This is because Warsaw is recognized to be an 'acute danger' zone," says Maria Fidelus of PZU.
Warsaw auto theft accounted for about one-third of PZU's total transport-related payouts in Warsaw compared to 2% in Szczecin in northwest Poland.
In Western countries, the industry average runs up to 2% for car theft claims, says Bob Kruijsse, commercial director for insurance brokers Rollins Hudig Hall. For Poland, payouts run 10%.
Auto insurance rates for the international car agency Avis have doubled in Poland since 1992, says Joergen Hansen, vice president of sales and operations for Avis in Warsaw. "It's a major burden for our business that our insurance premiums are so high."
The result: Renting a car for a day or two is probably cheaper in Germany than Poland, Hansen says, adding "that is mainly because of the insurance."
Dennis Monroe, manager of Diplomatic Automobile Sales in Warsaw, says the increase in car thefts has hurt his business in two ways: First, people who have their cars stolen are less likely to replace them with a new vehicle, if they replace them at all; second, very few American companies are insuring cars in Poland and are likely to cease coverage if the theft threat continues.
Who's at risk
Because of a lack of specific data, pinpointing trends is difficult in this crime sector.
The Warsaw Police Headquarters doesn't categorize crimes based upon the victim's nationality, says Witold Gieralt, Warsaw police press spokesman. "The only data on Westerners we have (is) related to people with diplomatic immunity," Gieralt says.
Crimes committed against diplomats decreased in 1995 to 152 from 177 in 1994. In terms of other Westerners, only rough estimates can be given.
"Every day, 130 to 140 different crimes are reported," Gieralt says. "On average, two crimes per day have a foreigner as a victim. Per year, it might be 2% to 3%."
If the Warsaw police know the victim is a foreigner, they report it to the appropriate embassy. Embassy officials say they encourage expatriates to report crimes to them as well as to the police.
But the six embassies contacted - British, Canadian, Dutch, German, Japanese, U.S. - either wouldn't release specific crime statistics or said their crime figures were incomplete.
Andrew Smith, economic secretary at the British Embassy, says the crime rate in Warsaw is not as bad as in other foreign capitals. However, here, he said, "the impression is the criminals are more willing to use force."
James Cronin, regional security officer at the U.S. Embassy, says he feels Western businessmen have become targets, not because of their nationality, but because of their visible higher standard of living.
"The motivation is economical," Cronin says. "It's a function of having material goods that are valuable to the thieves. ... The thieves really don't care if it's a Polish national or a Western businessman driving a late-model luxury car if that's the auto they want to acquire."
Travel advisory
Embassies generally inform expatriates of the threats - in particular, car thefts and burglaries - so their citizens can protect themselves.
About a year ago, the U.S. State Department upgraded Poland's security level to "high," Cronin said, based on the "nature of the criminal acts being more violent and more confrontational."
Cronin cautions: "Not to confront and fight with or argue with an armed thief over the car." Avoid "choke points," such as blocked roadways and driveways.
If you see anything unusual as you approach your driveway, keep going, Cronin says. Also dress down, drive nondescript, mid-size cars, he adds.
"It's impossible to be 100% safe from these crimes," says Kazuharu Hirano, first secretary at the Embassy of Japan, "but if you're careful enough, you can decrease the rate to be victims of those crimes."
The Japanese embassy hears of a citizen being a victim of a burglary or car theft about once every two months, Hirano says, a rate he doesn't find very high when compared to other metropolitan areas. "Warsaw is a very good place," he says.
Hirano says Polish law enforcement faces two problems: combating international crimes, like drug trafficking, which it does very well, and dealing with small, but "direct-impact" crimes, such as burglaries and car thefts.
"I understand it's not so easy for them (city police) to target both ... because their resources are limited," Hirano says.
WPH Blues
Warsaw has 9,786 police officers, of which 798 are trainees, says Gieralt of the police force. "We need at least 15,000 personnel and several hundred cars. This all costs money."
With more personnel and equipment, the response to criminal complaints improves. "It should take only one minute between the report on crime and a police car being there," Gieralt says.
International groups are giving aid to upgrade equipment and train local and national police. But for the moment, the caseload appears more than the system can bear.
Border guards are overwhelmed by the volume of cars at checkpoints, despite improved technology that allows them to grab more illegal vehicles, says Jaroslaw Zukowicz, border guard press spokesman.
Last year, officials stopped more than 3,000 illegal autos at the border, up sixfold from 1992 levels. Eastern checkpoints accounted for two-thirds of the confiscations last year.
The biggest market is in the East, where the most fashionable items these day are late-model, four-wheel-drives, Zukowicz says.
Tainted image
"Crime hasn't prevented us from doing business," says Troop of Procter & Gamble. But, he notes, his family's feeling of security has been shaken. "And it remains to be seen if we'll ever feel as secure in Poland again," he says.
Almost a year ago, five minutes after a Dutch businessman left for work, burglars broke into his suburban Warsaw home, he says, held a gun to his wife's head, tied her up and put her on the bed with the couple's 4-year-old son, who screamed, "Don't shoot me. Don't shoot me."
The burglars then ransacked the house, taking $25,000 worth of hi-tech goods.
"My wife is still nervous," says the businessman, who requested anonymity. He has lived here for four years, and during that time, "burglaries always existed but not on this scale and not with the violence that goes with it at this moment," he says.
He now lives with an alarm system for his home and three watch dogs.
About the robbery, he concedes: "It's money, and insurance will pay for it. And even if they don't ... it's still just money. But the emotional trauma you have from things like that makes the decision to live here more difficult."
"Armed robberies, it is something new," commented patrolman Krzysztof Kawka as he drove his squad car down ul. Grochowska in south Praga. "I remember my first case: 1992," said the 10-year veteran of Warsaw's police force. "A robbery of a kantor. At the beginning, I couldn't believe it. I thought somebody was making a joke."
But since then armed robberies have become a modus operandi in Warsaw, and the business community is buzzing with the news.
On Jan. 18, Ian Troop, general manager of Procter & Gamble Operations Polska SA, received a phone call from his wife.
She and their two children had just gotten into the family's four-wheel-drive when two men approached, he said.
It was daytime on a main thoroughfare. The two men walked up to the car and tried the doors. When they discovered the doors were locked, one man brandished a gun at her driver's side window. After she unlocked the door, the other man jammed the gun to her temple.
She got away with her children, but lost the car.
In neither of these two recent cases have the autos been recovered. Nor was anyone hurt. But Troop says he worries about the "dramatic escalation" of carjackings.
"The prospect of one of these guys some day losing his cool ... The chance of someone getting hurt in one of these situations is so high," Troop says. "It's a concerning development." Although overall crime in Warsaw increased only 2% last year, reports of armed robberies indicate that the city is becoming increasingly unsafe and the price of security is adding to the cost of doing business.
Armed robberies in Warsaw increased almost 20% in 1995, from 2,820 cases in 1994 to 3,374, according to the Warsaw police. Property theft increased about 15% and accounted for about one in every three of the nearly 100,000 crimes reported last year. Car thefts alone, which make up 15.7% of total reported crimes, were up 17% in 1995 compared to the previous year.
Rising costs
The rising rate of armed robbery is adding to business costs and living expenses in Warsaw.
To gain peace of mind, families and companies are hiring security services. It's a growing business in Warsaw (See related article, page 5) and the monthly cost for a guard providing 24-hour, residential security service ranges from zl. 4,320 to zl. 6,480 ($1,800 to $2,700), says Stanislaw Gregosiewicz of Komandos security services in Warsaw.
Moreover, car insurance is on the increase, a move that could slow down the car-rental and car-buying business.
Polish insurance giant Powszechny Zaklad Ubezpieczen SA charges 30% more for auto coverage for Warsaw residents than for other parts of Poland. "This is because Warsaw is recognized to be an 'acute danger' zone," says Maria Fidelus of PZU.
Warsaw auto theft accounted for about one-third of PZU's total transport-related payouts in Warsaw compared to 2% in Szczecin in northwest Poland.
In Western countries, the industry average runs up to 2% for car theft claims, says Bob Kruijsse, commercial director for insurance brokers Rollins Hudig Hall. For Poland, payouts run 10%.
Auto insurance rates for the international car agency Avis have doubled in Poland since 1992, says Joergen Hansen, vice president of sales and operations for Avis in Warsaw. "It's a major burden for our business that our insurance premiums are so high."
The result: Renting a car for a day or two is probably cheaper in Germany than Poland, Hansen says, adding "that is mainly because of the insurance."
Dennis Monroe, manager of Diplomatic Automobile Sales in Warsaw, says the increase in car thefts has hurt his business in two ways: First, people who have their cars stolen are less likely to replace them with a new vehicle, if they replace them at all; second, very few American companies are insuring cars in Poland and are likely to cease coverage if the theft threat continues.
Who's at risk
Because of a lack of specific data, pinpointing trends is difficult in this crime sector.
The Warsaw Police Headquarters doesn't categorize crimes based upon the victim's nationality, says Witold Gieralt, Warsaw police press spokesman. "The only data on Westerners we have (is) related to people with diplomatic immunity," Gieralt says.
Crimes committed against diplomats decreased in 1995 to 152 from 177 in 1994. In terms of other Westerners, only rough estimates can be given.
"Every day, 130 to 140 different crimes are reported," Gieralt says. "On average, two crimes per day have a foreigner as a victim. Per year, it might be 2% to 3%."
If the Warsaw police know the victim is a foreigner, they report it to the appropriate embassy. Embassy officials say they encourage expatriates to report crimes to them as well as to the police.
But the six embassies contacted - British, Canadian, Dutch, German, Japanese, U.S. - either wouldn't release specific crime statistics or said their crime figures were incomplete.
Andrew Smith, economic secretary at the British Embassy, says the crime rate in Warsaw is not as bad as in other foreign capitals. However, here, he said, "the impression is the criminals are more willing to use force."
James Cronin, regional security officer at the U.S. Embassy, says he feels Western businessmen have become targets, not because of their nationality, but because of their visible higher standard of living.
"The motivation is economical," Cronin says. "It's a function of having material goods that are valuable to the thieves. ... The thieves really don't care if it's a Polish national or a Western businessman driving a late-model luxury car if that's the auto they want to acquire."
Travel advisory
Embassies generally inform expatriates of the threats - in particular, car thefts and burglaries - so their citizens can protect themselves.
About a year ago, the U.S. State Department upgraded Poland's security level to "high," Cronin said, based on the "nature of the criminal acts being more violent and more confrontational."
Cronin cautions: "Not to confront and fight with or argue with an armed thief over the car." Avoid "choke points," such as blocked roadways and driveways.
If you see anything unusual as you approach your driveway, keep going, Cronin says. Also dress down, drive nondescript, mid-size cars, he adds.
"It's impossible to be 100% safe from these crimes," says Kazuharu Hirano, first secretary at the Embassy of Japan, "but if you're careful enough, you can decrease the rate to be victims of those crimes."
The Japanese embassy hears of a citizen being a victim of a burglary or car theft about once every two months, Hirano says, a rate he doesn't find very high when compared to other metropolitan areas. "Warsaw is a very good place," he says.
Hirano says Polish law enforcement faces two problems: combating international crimes, like drug trafficking, which it does very well, and dealing with small, but "direct-impact" crimes, such as burglaries and car thefts.
"I understand it's not so easy for them (city police) to target both ... because their resources are limited," Hirano says.
WPH Blues
Warsaw has 9,786 police officers, of which 798 are trainees, says Gieralt of the police force. "We need at least 15,000 personnel and several hundred cars. This all costs money."
With more personnel and equipment, the response to criminal complaints improves. "It should take only one minute between the report on crime and a police car being there," Gieralt says.
International groups are giving aid to upgrade equipment and train local and national police. But for the moment, the caseload appears more than the system can bear.
Border guards are overwhelmed by the volume of cars at checkpoints, despite improved technology that allows them to grab more illegal vehicles, says Jaroslaw Zukowicz, border guard press spokesman.
Last year, officials stopped more than 3,000 illegal autos at the border, up sixfold from 1992 levels. Eastern checkpoints accounted for two-thirds of the confiscations last year.
The biggest market is in the East, where the most fashionable items these day are late-model, four-wheel-drives, Zukowicz says.
Tainted image
"Crime hasn't prevented us from doing business," says Troop of Procter & Gamble. But, he notes, his family's feeling of security has been shaken. "And it remains to be seen if we'll ever feel as secure in Poland again," he says.
Almost a year ago, five minutes after a Dutch businessman left for work, burglars broke into his suburban Warsaw home, he says, held a gun to his wife's head, tied her up and put her on the bed with the couple's 4-year-old son, who screamed, "Don't shoot me. Don't shoot me."
The burglars then ransacked the house, taking $25,000 worth of hi-tech goods.
"My wife is still nervous," says the businessman, who requested anonymity. He has lived here for four years, and during that time, "burglaries always existed but not on this scale and not with the violence that goes with it at this moment," he says.
He now lives with an alarm system for his home and three watch dogs.
About the robbery, he concedes: "It's money, and insurance will pay for it. And even if they don't ... it's still just money. But the emotional trauma you have from things like that makes the decision to live here more difficult."
