General Commandant of The Policja
| Name | From | Until | Reason |
|---|---|---|---|
| Leszek Lamparski | May 1990 | July 1991 | dismissed |
| Roman Hula | July 1991 | January 1992 | resigned and retired |
| Zenon Smolarek | March 1992 | March 1995 | retired |
| Jerzy Stańczyk | March 1995 | January 1997 | retired |
| Marek Papała | January 1997 | January 1998 | assassinated |
| Jan Michna | January 1998 | October 2001 | resigned |
| Antoni Kowalczyk | October 2001 | October 2003 | resigned after scandal |
| Leszek Szreder | October 2003 | October 2005 | dismissed |
| Marek Bieńkowski | October 2005 | February 2007 | resigned |
| Konrad Kornatowski | February 2007 | August 2007 | resigned |
| Tadeusz Budzik | August 2007 | March 2008 | resigned |
| Andrzej Matejuk | March 2008 | January 2012 | resigned |
| Marek Działoszyński | January 2012 | incumbent | incumbent |
The Policja's general commandant is the senior-most officer of the Polish police. The rank of the general commandant (usually General Inspector) is considered to be equivalent to that of a ranking general in the Polish military and this both himself and his subordinate chief inspectors (who are also considered Police 'Generals') are entitled to wear embroidered white eagles, the state symbol, on their uniform lapels.
The general commandant's office is based in Warsaw's Puławska Street]. It is from here that the day to day administration and organisation of the Polish police's activities is coordinated. The commandant's office is considered to have jurisdictional supremacy over all its other commands, and voivodeship/muunicipal commandants are responsible to the general commandant in their capacity as his regional 'executives'.
The office of general commandant has existed in a number of guises throughout the existence of the Polish police, and whilst the current office came into being following Poland's transformation into a liberal democracy in 1990, the same rank was also used for the highest-ranking officer of the State Police of the Second Republic during the inter-war years. Nowadays, holders of this office are considered to be successors to the commandants of the inter-war state police; commanding officers of the communist-era Milicja Obywatelska (Citizens' Militia) however, are not considered successors of the original cadre of Policja generals as they exercised authority over an organisation often utilised by the state as an instrument of political oppression.
Since 1990 there have been eleven general commandants of the Policja who have completed their service; of whom eight have voluntary left office, two have been dismissed, and one assassinated. General Inspector Marek Papała, the only holder of the office to have died in the course of carrying out his duty, was assassinated by a person or persons unknown on 25 June 1998. He was shot in the head with a silenced weapon whilst exiting his car near his home in Warsaw's southern Mokotów district. The commandant's murder remains unsolved and is considered to be one of the most significant outstanding cases under active investigation by the Polish police.
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