The source material for the 'Cops and Robbers' photo series is a handbook for the Polish militia before the fall of the Soviet Union. At the time, the book served as an instruction manual on self defense for the militia and was published in 1956, exactly at the time that the first workers' protests against the People’s Republic of Poland broke out. By removing the civilian attackers from the photos, Agnieszka Polska transforms the poses of the militia into an absurd ballet.