VIII.

Contemporary Issues

As in other large cities, crime is a significant concern in Warsaw. The city has become a stage on drug-smuggling routes. Small-scale gang warfare and bombings were a steady feature of the 1990s and even appeared to reach a new level of intensity when a former chief of police was murdered outside his home in early 1998. The huge increase in automobile ownership has also become a source of problems. Serious congestion, pollution, and injury from accidents (roads are poor and driving is often reckless) have all increased.