Seminar opening the project „Safe Europe – fight against cross-border and organised crime on the Eastern Border of the EU”
This project was implemented under the Norwegian Financial Mechanism. The Regional Police Headquarters in Rzeszów, Białystok, Olsztyn and the Prevention and Road Traffic Bureau of the National Police Headquarters were involved in its implementation. The Eastern border with Belarus and Ukraine which constitutes the external border of the European Union leads through the lubelskie voivodship. Lublin is also an area of many transit routes to the East. International organized trafficking from Eastern Europe to Western countries, smuggling of excise goods, theft of vehicles, seeking fugitives, criminal group migration include areas that has been of interest of the Police for many years.
Effective fight against cross-border crime is one of the specific tasks of Lublin Police. Thanks to the Norwegian Financial Mechanism Police Headquarters in Lublin became the coordinator of the project “Safe Europe – fight against cross-border and organised crime on the Eastern Border of the EU”. The project value was 2 420 800 PLN and the value of the grant - 2 057 680 PLN.
In Kazimierz Dolny the opening conference started this project. The aim of this meeting was to present assumptions of this project in preventing and combating cross-border crime and organized crime. The specific programs of training workshops and seminars and rules of communication between the project partners was developed. The conference was opened by the Deputy Chief Commander of the Lublin Regional Police colonel Mirosław Sokal.
Implementation of the objectives of this project envisaged specialized English and Russian language training with particular emphasis on vocabulary related to the police and justice in each of the Regional Police Headquarters taking part in the project, as well as for the representatives of the Prevention and Road Traffic Bureau. The project also provided training for safe cross-border pursuit. The participants on special tracks and discs slip under the supervision of trainers will train safe driving techniques in a variety of crisis situations, eg. during taking the curve dynamically, during emergency lane change, the slip or the vehicle rotation of 360 degrees. The workshops on international search of fugitives from justice, information on the Schengen acquis and how to improve the ability to use equipment related to the Schengen Agreement will be the next step of the project. This training was held in April in Bialystok.
The training workshops on prevention of human trafficking, including child trafficking issues, procedures for dealing with victims of trafficking and their families as well as preventive measures was held in May in Zamosc. Another training seminar concenring trafficking and smuggling of excise goods and introducing into the trade the goods bearing trademarks, stolen vehicles as well as smuggling and trafficking animals and plant species threatened with extinction (CITES) was organised in June in Rzeszow.
The participants on the basis of good practices exchanged experiences on methods of operation of the criminals, ways of using by them the means of transport, the ways of disclosing the smuggled illegal goods, identifying of the trafficking routes as well as development of common procedures in the fight against smuggling of stolen vehicles and their parts. In September, the seminar on fight against the migration of criminal groups was held.