Report on Poland 2007 from Sgt. Tom Libby, Oak Ridge North Police Department
Recently I had the honor of attending the International Police Program sponsored by SHSU. I traveled to Warsaw , Poland for a two week period and was amazed at how far a country has come since becoming a democracy after so many years of communism. Upon my arrival at the airport in Warsaw we were met by our Polish interpreter who was a great asset to the group and always willing to go out of her way to help. There were a total of 10 delegates in our group, which consisted of five officers, three students, one retired officer and Dr. Rita Watkins.
Our group was housed at the National Polish Police training headquarters in Legionowo where the accommodations were modern and comfortable. I was amazed at the size of the training facility and the amount of training that the Polish police attend. I soon realized that the Polish police are a fast evolving police force, since only becoming a democracy since 1989. During our visit our group had the opportunity to tour several training departments from the police driving, crime labs, photography lab, narcotics identification, shooting range, and the vehicle mechanics lab. Our group also got the opportunity to visit the Water police, a modern prison which was only two years old, and also the K9 police training facilities and had the opportunity to watch several K9's work. We also had the opportunity to tour the Warsaw Police headquarters as well as the National Police Headquarters and actually watch a court room proceeding. We also had the pleasure of meeting several top officials of the Polish National Police, and were always well received and made to feel welcome.
However our trip was not all business, we had the opportunity to tour several castles, a monastery, and palaces. One of the more solemn moments that I experienced on this trip was the tour of Auschwitz . I personally believe that anybody who has the opportunity to tour this site should not let it pass by. Another interesting tour was the tour of the Warsaw uprising museum and the tour of old town in Warsaw and was amazed at how old town was rebuilt after being destroyed during the German occupation. The one thing that I did not miss at all while in Poland was the Texas heat. The weather could not have been any nicer with temperatures in the lower 70's during the day and 50's at night. One difficult thing to get used to was the time, the sun would go down at about 10pm and the sun would start coming up at about 3:15am.
I would like to say Thank You to Dr. Watkins and Carolyn Martinez for affording me this opportunity to attend this great experience and I can truly say that this has been the high light of my police career so far. I would highly recommend any graduate of LCC to attend the International Police Program.
Sgt. Tom Libby
Oak Ridge North Police Department
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