Analytical Approach to Cooperation Between Fire Brigade and the Police — Comparison Study on Base of Polish and Portuguese Experiences

Cooperation is one of the fundamental processes which shape the natural, social, economic and cultural environments. Therefore, it appears evident that this concept gained recognition within numerous scientific areas, which include, among others: management, economics, anthropology, sociology, political science, the psychology of work, and others. The scope of concerned aspects relates to human relations, it seems necessary to reflect on the subject of consideration from the point of view of sociology. In the contemporary world everybody operates within a global system, therefore everyone is interdependent. The paradigm of the organization constitutes of a man, the purpose and structure. Cooperation is the opposite of social conflict, hence by the means of cooperation conflicts may be prevented and through cooperation conflicts may be solved. Currently, the rescue system in Poland is based on organized but dispersed areas of responsibility among public authorities and non-governmental organizations. In Portugal, civil protection and relief operations are multidisciplinary activities developed by agencies, services and entities, at the national, district and municipal levels, duly organized in the Integrated Protection and Relief Operations System. Therefore cooperation between agencies should be a never ending process which is realized through all crises management phases. Only then it brings the synergy effect in the key moments of complex life-saving operations. These two agencies are almost always present on a scene of small and major incidents. Therefore the authors recognized that the problem is worth to be addressed as a comparison study on the base of Polish and Portuguese experiences.