page_title: Police brutality
section_title: Poland
hierarchical_section_title: Police brutality / Examples / Europe / Poland
caption_attribution_description: English: Set of photographs mostly documenting street demonstrations and police actions in Poland during the martial law of 1981-1983. Polski: Fotografie dokumentujące demonstracje i akcje ZOMO podczas stanu wojennego w Polsce w latach 1981-1983.
context_page_description: Police brutality or police violence is legally defined as a civil rights violation where law enforcement officers exercise undue or excessive force against a subject. This includes, but is not limited to, bullying, physical or verbal harassment, physical or mental injury, property damage, and death. In some countries, "the color of law" protects officers from ambiguous situations.
context_section_description: The Polish police (Policja) force aims to "serve and protect the people, and to maintain public order and security". Polish laws prohibit torture or degrading treatment and set out punishment for police officers including demotion and removal from the police force.
caption: Polish ZOMO squads with police batons during martial law in Poland, 1981–1983. The sarcastic caption reads "outstretched hands of understanding" or "outstretched hands for agreement".
exif: {"Image Make": "Canon", "Image Model": "CanoScan LiDE 600F", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image Software": "CanoScan Toolbox 5.0", "Image DateTime": "2014:12:04 02:26:24", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image ExifOffset": "2238", "Image Padding": "[]", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2014:12:04 02:26:24", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2014:12:04 02:26:24", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "00", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "00", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "10204", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "13199", "EXIF FileSource": "Reflection Print Scanner", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF Padding": "[]"}