State Protection Service Day in Poland Date in the current year: June 12, 2024

The State Protection Service (Służba Ochrony Państwa, SOP) is Poland’s equivalent of the United States Secret Service. Its main tasks are to combat terrorism and ensure the security of the Polish government. The Service is subordinate to the Ministry of Interior and Administration of the Republic of Poland.

SOP’s subjects of protection include the President, the Prime Minister, the Marshal of the Sejm, the Marshal of the Senate, Deputy Prime Ministers, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Minister of Interior and Administration, former Presidents (as long as they live in Poland), other individuals by a decree of the Minister of Interior, as well as foreign heads of state and government, foreign ministers, representatives and diplomats staying on the territory of Poland.

The State Protection Service of Poland in its present-day form was established in February 2018, following the liquidation of the Government Protection Bureau. However, its history had begun several decades earlier. On June 12, 1924, the then-Minister of Interior Zygmunt Hübner created a special Protection Brigade (Brygada Ochronna) to ensure the security of the President of Poland. The main reason for its creation was the assassination of President Gabriel Narutowicz, who was shot dead on December 16, 1922, just five days after assuming office.

The Government Protection Bureau was formed in 1956. To celebrate its 45th anniversary, the Sejm inaugurated Government Protection Bureau Day. In 2018, it was renamed State Protection Service Day. The main celebrations are held in the courtyard of the Royal Castle in Warsaw. On this day, newly appointed SOP officers traditionally take an oath of allegiance.