Fingerprints taken in toilets among shocking findings of report on police

The national police chief has accepted the conclusions of a critical report into conditions at Poland's police stations. The report, by the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights, was submitted to national police commander Antoni Kowalczyk on Friday, after first being sent to Interior Minister Krzysztof Janik. Investigations carried out at 168 Polish police stations showed that half of them did not have a detention room and kept prisoners handcuffed near the front desk or sometimes padlocked to a heater or other equipment. The description goes on, "Fingerprints are taken in toilets and witnesses are interrogated in the corridors." In other comments the report claims that sometimes ten police officers have to work in a space no bigger than 47 square meters. The investigation also found that 28% of police stations are not open in the afternoons, in 39% non-functioning telephones mean emergency calls have to be diverted, while 32% of police units are not linked to the police data base because they do not have computers. (Gazeta Wyborcza, p. 7) P.W.