News

Golden Badges for successes in the fight against piracy awarded

The Anti-Piracy Coalition has once again honoured police officers from police units that have particularly distinguished themselves in the past year with their effective fight against music, TV and computer piracy with Golden Badges.

The Departments for Fighting Economic Crime of the Provincial Police Headquarters in Olsztyn and the District Police Headquarters in Ostrów Wielkopolski were honoured for their fight against infringements of intellectual property rights. A special award for educational cooperation went to Superintendent Iwona Klonowska, Commandant-Rector of the Police Academy in Szczytno.

The gala ceremony took place on 27 March at the Police Academy in Szczytno. Awards were presented to police officers by the Commander-in-Chief of the Police Jarosław Szymczyk, representing the Anti-Piracy Coalition, President of the Signal Association Teresa Wierzbowska and the singer and leader of the band Feel, Piotr Kupicha.

The Chief of Police Jarosław Szymczyk, while thanking police officers for fighting theft of intellectual property, indicated that this type of crime still brings the perpetrators huge profits and its scale is still large. Nevertheless, the activities of the Police in combating Internet piracy are becoming more and more professional, at the same time becoming a part of the tasks of the newly established organisational unit within the structure of the Police Headquarters in the form of the Bureau for Combating Economic Crime.

– There would be no such professionalisation if it were not for the continuous education of officers on the subject of intellectual property rights. It is the Police Academy in Szczytno that responds to training needs in this area,” said Szymczyk.

Teresa Wierzbowska from the Sygnal Association noted that the Polish Police are becoming more and more effective in the fight against cybercrime and copyright infringement. – Piracy has changed a lot over the years, but the Police are not lagging behind in their activities, she pointed out.

Wierzbowska emphasised that the past year has shown the importance of cooperation, both operational, between different police units, and training, carried out together with entities that are affected by theft of audiovisual content.

In congratulating the award winners, Marek Staszewski, plenipotentiary of the Association of Audio Video Producers, who chaired the ceremony, emphasised how much their work means to artists, publishers and television stations and how much their commitment is appreciated.

The award for police officers from KWP in Olsztyn was given for shutting down a large hosting service distributing films and TV series. On the other hand, officers from the KPP in Ostrów Wielkopolski received the Golden Blacha for thwarting an illegal procedure of sharing the rights of subscriber cards of paid satellite platforms, which was used by nearly 150 people.

– An important part of the activities of the Anti-Piracy Coalition are educational activities for law enforcement agencies on the subject of intellectual property protection and combating copyright infringements. The award for Iwona Klonowska, the Commandant-Rector of the Police Academy in Szczytno, is a token of appreciation for fruitful cooperation in joint training initiatives for police officers and the support provided by the school and its lecturers – justified the Golden Blacha for Superintendent Klonowska by President Wierzbowska.

Piotr Kupicha, thanking on behalf of artists and creators, pointed out the importance of effective protection of intellectual property, especially today, when culture is moving to the digital world. – This is an award for hard work, which is highly appreciated in the artists community,” said Kupicha.