"The State Protection Service is legendary, and anyone with malicious intent should fear its officers," Prime Minister Donald Tusk said during a ceremony in Warsaw on Friday marking the agency's official holiday.
"You are always there when you are needed, and thanks to this, saboteurs and aggressors are powerless," he added.
Tusk said he personally owed much to SOP officers.
"I am probably one of the longest-protected individuals in the country, and I'm not joking when I say that I am here with you today only because you are around me," he said.
Prime Minister Donald Tusk and Col. Tomasz Jackowicz, commander of Poland's State Protection Service (SOP), attend a ceremony in Warsaw on Friday marking the agency's official holiday. Photo: PAP/Paweł Supernak
The prime minister said the daily work of SOP officers requires "courage, professionalism, imagination and vigilance," particularly as new security threats emerge.
He added that the service needs broader powers, modern equipment and improved logistical support to meet growing challenges.
"We are here to provide you with everything necessary so that you can effectively serve the state and its security," Tusk said.
President Karol Nawrocki also paid tribute to the service in a letter read at the ceremony by his chief of staff, Paweł Szefernaker.
Paweł Szefernaker. Photo: PAP/Paweł Supernak
Nawrocki congratulated SOP officers and civilian employees and honored those who had died in the line of duty.
"We remember their sacrifice in the service of the country," the president wrote.
He said the work of SOP officers often goes unnoticed but is essential to ensuring the smooth running of major state events, public ceremonies and high-level domestic and international meetings.
(pu/gs)
Source: IAR, PAP