notified of the methodology of the monitoring team’s work prior to the commencement of NMPT’s visits to Police stations39. At that point he declared full cooperation on the part of the Police40. In response to the letter, the Commander-in-Chief of the Police informed that he instructed all heads of Police organizational units to initiate informational actions devoted to the OPCAT as well as the NMPT’s rights and work methodology. Additionally, a comprehensive document was prepared with the analysis of the remit of actions of the NMPT. It was sent to Police units in order to undertake relevant educational and informational activities in response to the needs in that regard 41. What attracted the attention of the inspection team during the visit to the Warszawa-Wawer Police station42 was the apprehension and placement of two foreigners in transitional rooms. In order to inspect the monitoring footage a request was addressed to the Police station to safeguard relevant files and send them on an appropriate carrier to the Office of the Commissioner for Human Rights. The received CD comprised files in a format that could not be played on devices without a suitable operational system. Given that problem, the NMPT once again requested the Police station to generate the relevant file in a format that could be played on universally used operational systems. Yet, due to the lapse of time, monitoring footage was already deleted from the system and the CD sent to the Office of the CHR was the only carrier from which the recording could be recovered. Since there was a concern about possible data loss, it was necessary for the CD to be picked up personally by the officer from the Warszawa-Wawer Police station. After around a two-week waiting time for the repeated delivery of the materials, it turned out that the material provided did not allow for an appropriate analysis of the recording. It was, namely, fast-forwarded a number of times, which did not make it possible to thoroughly analyze the conduct of detainees and officers. Moreover, all recordings were stopped in the same moment, i.e. when detainees were still in the facilities. It was, therefore, not possible to check at what time the detained were de facto released. The described situation resulted in the need for a repeated involvement of the employees of the Police unit and waiting for properly recorded material. Having familiarized itself with the recording obtained in the aftermath of this intervention, the NMPT determined that recordings were still defective (they ended when the detained still remained in transitional rooms). Given the above, the NMPT came to the conclusion that the Warszawa-Wawer Police station made it impossible for the inspection team to get fully acquainted with monitoring footage from transitional rooms in which the said foreigners were detained, which de facto prevented the team from verifying the method of detainees’ treatment and the conditions of detention. 39 40 41 42 Cf. Letter of the Deputy Commissioner for Human Rights of 3 October 2018, reference no. KMP.570.26.2018. RK. Cf. Response of the Commander-in-Chief of the Police of 26 November 2018, ref. no. l.dz. Gpc-841/18. Cf. Response of the Commander-in-Chief of the Police of 15 July 2019, ref. no. Gpc-410/345/19. Police station Warszawa-Wawer (KMP.570.4.2019). 28 PART III – Difficulties with the execution of the nmpt’s mandate