Today, 22 January, the activities conducted by the Border Police in 2013 and the priorities for 2014 were presented within a summing-up meeting. Minister of Interior Dorin Recean and Deputy Minister of Interior Veaceslav Ceban participated at the event.
Minister Recean appreciated the activity of the Border Police in 2013, highlighting the achievements in the new fields of activity: criminal investigation, special investigations and documents expertise. Mr. Recean also stressed the need to identify the internal and external risks in order to improve the risk management system and be able to tackle new challenges and threats. Strengthening cooperation between Border Police Department and other MIA subdivisions, especially the General Inspectorate of Police and the Bureau for Migration and Asylum was mentioned as one of the priorities for the next year.
The Head of the Border Police Department, Dorin Purice, confirmed the improvement of activity in 2013, mentioning the results achieved in the operational activity, the decreasing number of illegal border crossings and of course the rise of citizens’ confidence in Border Police. Mr. Purice outlined the relevance of external assistance which equipped and trained Border Police officers in line with international standards and significantly enhanced their activity.
During 2013, Border Police conducted specific activities assigned by law and fulfilled the relevant benchmarks in the framework of RM-EU visa liberalization dialogue. Aiming to ensure a high level of border security, the BP developed and implemented policy concepts to modernize the institution meeting the EU standards.
One of the main challenges BP officers have to face is ensuring border security while providing a high quality service in terms of safe border crossing for travelers. In 2013, 15,5 persons crossed the RM border.
Following the reorganization of the border agency, the number of management and technical maintenance positions decreased with over 35% in favor of execution positions. It fostered capacity building of BP subdivisions in the field of criminal investigation, special investigations and mobile teams’ activity.
Basing on operative statistics, the activity of BP significantly improved compared to 2012. During 2013 BP officers detected 4691 persons violating border legislation and detained 314 persons with forged travel documents, including 85 persons investigated for illegal migration.
Improving the level of initial and continuous professional training based on a modern system was and is still another key priority of the border agency. In the reporting period, BP officers participated at 353 initial and continuous training courses. As a result, 4409 employees were trained in relevant fields. At the same time, 1395 BP officers participated at 233 trainings delivered by international experts.
It is worth-mentioning that in 2013 the Deontological Code for Border Police officers was approved. It provides the rules of conduct for employees while conducting professional activities, as well as outside working hours.
Border Police set the following priorities for 2014:
- To continue implementation of Integrated Border Management in line with EU best practices;
- To continue improving the activity in order to prevent and combat illegal migration, trafficking in human beings and other cross-border crime;
- To ensure population access to a high quality service, as well as an appropriate and honest personnel;
- To move forward in alignment to EU standards by cooperating with relevant institutions and implementing provisions of relevant agreements;
- To modernize human resources management by developing the continuous training system, setting up well-defined and clear assessment, promotion and motivation of personnel;
- To promote the “zero tolerance to corruption, torture, breaking of rights and freedoms” concept;
- To develop an integrated and efficient infrastructure in order to improve activity and ensure transparency of services provided.
At the end of the meeting, the head of the Border Police reiterated that the institution will further provide input on the European endeavors of Moldova and expressed the belief that tackling threats, while providing a service in terms of safe border crossings for bona-fide travelers will remain a key priority.
