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Why do people say that Poland is so unsafe?


Rage  1 | 9  
21 Jun 2010 /  #1
Hello,

I am half french and half Spanish and came to live in Poland.
Back in Spain, france and other countries, I heard people talking about Poland like if it was a super dangerous place where you will get robbed and beaten up by skinheads, get hit by a car and other stupid things like that.

I even heard from a Polish guy that "if you look any different in Poland, like if you have earrings, piercings, tattoos you will get attacked by skinheads bla bla bla avoid public transport", maybe it's because I live in warsaw, but after 2 years of living in Poland I actually feel it's the safest country I've lived in. Sure, i've had some looks cause my skin is fairly dark, I speak another language and are pierced, but no one has actually ever said anything to me, nobody ever touched me.

I got robbed twice in spain, and in france i almost got stabbed by a drunken guy on the street in the middle of the day.

I actually feel very safe here, take the bus, go around the city, even at night, and never had nay problems. In france and spain i had to watch my back all the time.

So why do people describe Poland as a super dangerous place?
convex  20 | 3928  
21 Jun 2010 /  #2
Images of track suited AK toting Mercedes drivers running things. I'll repeat it here, this place is candyland.
OP Rage  1 | 9  
21 Jun 2010 /  #3
I know, I really enjoy living in Warsaw, and as i said i feel it's the safest place I've lived in, probably France/Spain are 10 times as unsafe, and there it's a chaos. In here i can actually relax. Good that people say Poland is bad, people who appreciate it can enjoy it :)
zetigrek  
21 Jun 2010 /  #4
I also feel quite safe in Poland but I'm a native.
vetala  - | 381  
21 Jun 2010 /  #5
Maybe it's because France and Spain only get news from Poland with headlines like "Black man beaten in Poland" and never "Black man not beaten in Poland, bought a postcard"
sobieski  106 | 2111  
21 Jun 2010 /  #6
Rage:
So why do people describe Poland as a super dangerous place?
this place is candyland.

Completely true. I am living like six years in Warsaw and I am coming since 1989 regularly to Poland. Never experienced something bad criminal/dangerous here, and also take often the metro late at night without problems. My car is parked on the street and the worst thing which happened is that somebody stole two wheel covers from my Touran. Admittedly we do not live in a "hot spot". Bielany is not an "exciting" place at night. Praga might be different, from what I hear.

I think actually the biggest danger is from the absolutely deranged drivers I see each day on the roads.
OP Rage  1 | 9  
21 Jun 2010 /  #7
It's quite bad, but when i was in Rome for my holidays i thought my life was in danger. Those guys there are ******* out of mind.
sobieski  106 | 2111  
21 Jun 2010 /  #8
Actually my brother-in-law thinks that the average Warsaw driver is quite civilized compared to the Paris ones. Is this the case? I have no idea.
1jola  14 | 1875  
21 Jun 2010 /  #9
The French will run you over on crosswalks; we will too.

This thread should be deleted, and these rumours that Warsaw is safe should be ignored. We are homophobic, racist, anti-Semitic, psychopathic thieves. If you don't believe it, just search this forum for all the convincing threads that prove otherwise.

I personally know a foreigner who got his bicycle stolen on Marszałkowska in broad daylight.

Don't say that you weren't warned by 1jola.
OP Rage  1 | 9  
22 Jun 2010 /  #10
Yeah, crossing the street in France is like Russian roulette.
I am just talking about my personal experience, and Poland isn't so bad. In Warsaw i can take the metro at 12:00PM and nothing will happen to me. I can go to clubs and if i don't disturb other people, i won't get into fights (never happened to me).

In Spain i will probably get robbed on the metro, and i can't walk at 2 am alone. So why you say Warsaw is so unsafe? Because there are homophobic/anti-Semitic people? Those are everywhere, just that from what i see, in Poland most of those are on forums and there are just a few incidents, and where i lived crime was every day stuff.

I think people in Warsaw don't know what unsafe means. A bike stolen? Hardcore crime. I almost got stabbed from a guy who took my wallet and didn't think i had enough money with me, this was in broad daylight. Some people saw, nobody called the police or did anything. My car's glass was broken in the day in Spain because i left a half-packet of cigarettes on the seat, and another time because i left a nice jacket in my car. And more stories of things that happened to friends and myself. In some neighbourhoods, you have to be back home before the sun goes down, police won't even come to you if you are in trouble.

Really, from what i saw Warsaw is nothing to worry about. And a Jew and a black guy who get beaten up once every month, bikes and cars getting stolen doesn't mean the city is unsafe.

Why don't you stop this thread I don't think we need more foreigners in Poland.

Don't worry, im not here to take your jobs and your women, im working in a spanish company.
polkamaniac  1 | 482  
22 Jun 2010 /  #11
I guess it's a little different when you retuen to Poland as a tourist.Let me give you a few examples.My uncle went back for a visit to his hometown Zielona Góra.He got beat up and was robbed.My dad went to visit his hometown in Wroclaw---he also got got rolled over and robbed.My buddy just came back from a trip to Poland and ended up in the hospital.Guess what----He got beat up and robbed.----Am I ever going back to my country ??????I'll give you two guesses and neither one is "yes" !!!!!!. I am told they can pick outl tourists from a mile away.
OP Rage  1 | 9  
22 Jun 2010 /  #12
I've been living here for 2 years, and never got robbed. And none of people who came here to visit me/holidays got robbed or attacked. I think it's common sense too. If you walk alone in Praga after a Legia game, wearing Gucci belts and talking on your iphone surely something will happen.
rychlik  41 | 372  
22 Jun 2010 /  #13
So why do people describe Poland as a super dangerous place?

It's the Jew media of the west that likes to stereotype Poland like this. Because there is no other logical explanation for why you would think this, is there? What brought you to Poland?
OP Rage  1 | 9  
22 Jun 2010 /  #14
Work, the company where i work, i have a contract for 4 years in Poland, but the thread isn't about my job.
I just can't see why everyone in western Europe describes Poland as dangerous when their countries (our countries) for what i experienced are way more dangerous.
MareGaea  29 | 2751  
22 Jun 2010 /  #15
It's the Jew media of the west that likes to stereotype Poland like this. Because there is no other logical explanation for why you would think this, is there?

You're not even living in Poland. So who the heck do you think you are to speak for Poland? It's not the Jews that created the image of dangerous PL in the rest of the world. Maybe Poland doesn't have a dangerous image abroad? Just because flippedyflop says so, doesn't mean that it's actually true.

I just can't see why everyone in western Europe describes Poland as dangerous when their countries (our countries) for what i experienced are way more dangerous.

I'm Western European and I've never heard that Poland was dangerous. I've heard that the Poles were annoying and only after your money, yes, but never that it was dangerous to be there. Unlike Russia, for that matter. But I never go after what ppl say, anyway.

>^..^<

M-G (told you that I would kick your butt if you would say silly things)
SzwedwPolsce  11 | 1589  
22 Jun 2010 /  #16
London, Paris (in fact most Western European capitals) are less safe than Warsaw.
OP Rage  1 | 9  
22 Jun 2010 /  #17
Maybe Poland doesn't have a dangerous image abroad? Just because flippedyflop says so, doesn't mean that it's actually true.

Well, i have no reason to lie, im just saying what i heard before coming here. If you ask the average spanish person, he will think that poland is a 3rd world country where you will get robbed instantly, when in spain the odds of getting robbed are waaay higher. And now that im living here i laugh at those people.

I don't go after what people say either, infact i accepted the job. I just can't see why many people picture poland like that.
MareGaea  29 | 2751  
22 Jun 2010 /  #18
London, Paris (in fact most Western European capitals) are less safe than Warsaw.

I think that every European capital or big city is safe, as long as you know the places where you shouldn't go on your own or when you're unfamiliar with those cities.

If you ask the average spanish person, he will think that Poland is a 3rd world country where you will get robbed instantly

Ever heard of prejudice? I'm for example from the Netherlands and if I have to believe all that ppl who don't live here have to say about my country, then everybody is on drugs and all girls are prostitutes. I think you shouldn't pay too much attention to gossip like that.

>^..^<

M-G (every city is as safe or as unsafe as you want it to be)
vasw  - | 1  
22 Jun 2010 /  #19
Any country in the world is dangerous if you go to the wrong place at the wrong time,even in Melbourne (Australia) their are places that i wouldn't go at night for fear of stabbings and fighting.
1jola  14 | 1875  
22 Jun 2010 /  #20
The most dangerous element in Warsaw are the female gangs.

If you have a bad habit of sitting down in trams in the winter or you like to shop at the outdoor markets, you will be their victim sooner or later.

They are fierce, stout, brutal, surprisingly agile, and if you lock eyes with them, you will pee your knickers from fear.
zetigrek  
22 Jun 2010 /  #21
You are to old to make such jokes...
Seanus  15 | 19666  
22 Jun 2010 /  #22
Some areas are and some aren't. However, I feel that it is safer than many countries due to the lack of racial tension and religious hostility. As a white guy, I feel safe here.
zuczek  3 | 52  
22 Jun 2010 /  #23
I never had once single moment of danger living in Warsaw for years. Even in the horrible "Praga" that everyone tells new people to avoid. Sure there is some crime and I know one or two people who had their flat broken into and a couple more who had cars stolen but that happens in every city all over the world. Only ONE of my friends ever got into a fight and he put himself in that position by being drunk in the middle of the night around a rowdy crowd. I don't know anyone personally who has been mugged there.

There is very little violent crime in Poland relative to the average worldwide I would say. I lived in the busy part of town and was out often late and never once felt unsafe. Though I did have an old lady kind of freak out thinking I was following them once or twice :) But I was really just going to same way as them and you would think me having shopping bags in both hands would be a clue.
SzwedwPolsce  11 | 1589  
22 Jun 2010 /  #24
It also depends on where you come from and how you look. An sad empirically proven fact.
alexw68  
22 Jun 2010 /  #25
Allow me to corroborate. Lived in Lisbon for 8 months several years ago - I'm not one of life's natural sunbathers and perhaps a tad taller than the Portuguese average. When in Alfama and Bairro Alto the local hoods would go straight for me.

In Poland, nothing. Worse than that: I keep my hair very tightly cropped these days and one or two Ultras have mistakenly assumed I'm one of their own...
frd  7 | 1379  
22 Jun 2010 /  #26
hehe, see, everyone can make different friends in surprising places.. knowing one or two local hooligans isn't bad either.. ; )
OP Rage  1 | 9  
22 Jun 2010 /  #27
I've been to Spain more times than I can remember and I've used the subway in Barcelona and buses and trains at night in other parts of the country and I have never felt threatened, I've been to France a couple of times and have never felt threatened there either.

depends in what are and at what time. if you are taking the metro in the city centre at 4 pm, of course nothing will happen to you.
Amathyst  19 | 2700  
22 Jun 2010 /  #28
Well, your "of course" comment doesn't extend to certain areas in the UK, where you could get mugged at any time of the day..Personally its not the Spanish that make me uneasy in Spain its others..I also found in Spain like in Poland you're never that far away from a Policeman or someone "official" looking.
MareGaea  29 | 2751  
22 Jun 2010 /  #29
However, I feel that it is safer than many countries due to the lack of racial tension and religious hostility

Can you expand on that pls, Seanus? It seems a rather a-typical thing for you to say.

>^..^<

M-G (hm)
Seanus  15 | 19666  
22 Jun 2010 /  #30
Poland is 0.07% Muslim only. If that shot up to 7%, you could expect to see some racial tension in areas like Wilanów. The whole petitioning for the extra mosque debacle showed you the resistance in the people.

Poland doesn't even know mixing like Scotland does. Say 'fenian' to a Glasgow Celtic supporter and they will clobber you. It is a derogative reference to them being Catholic. Poland's 'other' religions are so small that they need a microscope to see the light of day.

Why a-typical? I thought it was very typical. I feel very safe due to the lack of tension. My being white helps. Only the old hags draw attention to the fact that I'm different though I could experience that in many countries.

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