MATERIAL SCOPE OF PUBLIC SAFETY AND PUBLIC ORDER IN THE CONTEXT OF POLICE RESPONSIBILITIES

Abstract

This article presents the material scope of public safety and public order in the context of the Polish police jurisdiction. The considerations are based on the assumption that safety, as one of the social rights, is an inalienable human right while human rights are the product of moral and political agreements between people. When attempting to define the material scope of the notions of "public safety" and "public order", it should be noted that both in the process of making and applying the law and in the legal literature, the use of the term "public safety and order" has been accepted. Nevertheless, the concepts of public safety and public order are not unequivocal. The relevant literature presented in this article is dominated by approaches that define both public safety and public order as a desirable state. Most often, public safety is related to the functioning of the state and its citizens, while public order refers to a narrower sphere of complying with norms and maintaining the efficiency of public institutions . Both concepts are of an administrative nature, i.e. they are concerned with issues related to the implementation and observance of regulations in force in a given country. Public order, just like public safety, is also a certain internal condition of a state, as no organised community can allow its members to exercise their will without any restrictions. Rules governing the conduct and coexistence of community members are defined by appropriate norms, such as customs, moral and religious principles or legal norms, all of which are subject to permanent changes, which in turn makes it necessary for the institutions established to protect public order and safety to adapt by systematic improvement of their organisation in the functional dimension.