Police in the Podkarpackie Voivodeship facing mainstream media narratives on security in the first weeks of the refugee crisis in 2022

Abstract

The Russian Federation's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 triggered a refugee crisis in Poland. This resulted in heightened public concerns about personal safety, especially at the local level. The resulting issues became the subject of heated political debate. This situation posed a significant challenge for the police, which ensured the safety of refugees and residents of Poland. Another important task was to respond to information appearing in the public sphere via social media about various security threats, including specific criminal incidents that strongly influenced public sentiment. A specific situation occurred in the Podkarpackie Voivodeship, directly bordering Ukraine. This article, based primarily on an analysis of press releases and materials from the Police Voivodeship Headquarters in Rzeszów (whose area of ​​operation is the Podkarpackie Voivodeship), examines the press and information activities of this unit during the initial weeks of the crisis. An attempt was made to indicate the main directions of the Police activities in the region and the tools they used in response to the main directions of media narratives, including those taking into account topoi discrediting the actions of state bodies (including those pointing to the increasing threat from migrants and the strengthening of the phenomenon of "humanitarian racism") and to the spreading disinformation.