Poland unveils new polycarbonate police service ID cards with anti-forgery security

Poland is replacing the service identity card of its police officers with a new, high-security model. The Minister of Internal Affairs and Administration issued a regulation on 4 September 2026 setting out the new card design, the issuing authorities and the procedures for exchange, deposit and return, published in the Dziennik Ustaw of 9 September 2026 under item 1188 and entering into force on 1 January 2027.

The regulation, signed on behalf of the minister by C. Mroczek, is based on Article 28b(7) of the Police Act of 6 April 1990. It replaces the previous regulation of 23 December 2002, which loses force on the day the new rules take effect, following the entry into force of the Act of 1 October 2024 on the creation of uniformed-profile units and the facilitation of return to service in the Policja and Straż Graniczna.

A card built for security

The new service identity card is a personalised identification card measuring 85.6 × 53.98 × 0.76 mm, made of multilayer polycarbonate and personalised by laser engraving. The design combines a blue-yellow-green-blue background with the “POLICJA” inscription, the state eagle emblem, the officer’s photograph and a holographic mark, together with a machine-readable data zone.

The card carries a series of layered anti-counterfeiting protections:

• an optically variable ink element forming the “POLICJA” inscription
• guilloche lines and microprints in the photograph field
• a diffractive DOVID element
• a relief background with the “POLICJA” inscription
• two-colour guilloche background printed in iridescent technique
• elements in dual-range ink active under ultraviolet radiation
• surface embossing and a CLI security element

The reverse side adds a white field showing, depending on the viewing angle, the officer’s face or the stylised letters “RP”, and a machine-readable zone on a relief background. The card is marked “WAŻNA DO” (valid until) 31.12.2030.

Who issues and manages the cards

The regulation assigns issuing and exchange powers across the police structure. The Komendant Główny Policji issues cards to provincial (capital) commanders, the commanders of the Centralne Biuro Śledcze Policji, the Biuro Spraw Wewnętrznych Policji and the Centralne Biuro Zwalczania Cyberprzestępczości, the commander of the Centralny Pododdział Kontrterrorystyczny Policji “BOA”, the Komendant-Rektor Akademii Policji w Szczytnie, police school commanders, the director of the Centralne Laboratorium Kryminalistyczne Policji, and officers serving in the headquarters and the “BOA” unit.

Each of these commanders and directors in turn issues cards to the officers serving under them. Exchange, deposit and return follow an oral request by the officer or a superior, submitted to the personnel cell of the unit where the officer serves, and require the prior return of the old card together with a recent photograph of the officer.

What changes for officers

The new rules also specify where cards are handled for officers serving in smaller units. For officers in a police commissariat, the card is exchanged, deposited or returned at the personnel cell of the district, municipal or regional command covering that commissariat; for those in a specialist commissariat or a police training centre, the competent cell is that of the provincial (capital) command.

The regulation applies to all officers of the Policja and standardises the card’s validity period at 31 December 2030. For the roughly 100,000 officers in service, the change means a more durable, harder-to-forge document that strengthens the verification of police identity in everyday contact with citizens and in cross-border and inter-agency cooperation.

Source: Dziennik Ustaw, 9 September 2026, item 1188 (official reference: Dz.U. 2026 poz. 1188).