The activity evaluation of the Romanian Border Police 2007

ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND CONCLUSIONS

• The implementation of control system for border traffic with one stop - one stop control - at the Romanian - Bulgarian and Romania - Hungarian border.
• Modernization of the managerial policy.
• Employment percentage is 92,97%.
• The relation between Romania and Frontex Agency has developed.
• Trafficking in human beings - the number of ascertained cases increased with 23%.
• The number of apprehended migrant groups, who acted illegal at the border, increased with 49%.
• The value of the goods retained in order to be seized increased with 54,3%.
• Smuggling with excise taxed goods increased with 71%.
• The number of stolen vehicles increased with 26%.
• A significant increase of the quantity of seized drugs (approximately 4 times).

THE OBJECTIVES AND MEASURES SETTLED FOR THE NEXT PERIOD

A. Legislation

1. To work out some studies necessary to detail some provisions in the Schengen Catalogues, in the view of the unitary implementation of its regulations.
2. To repeal the provisions of Chapter 4 in the Government Emergency Ordinance no. 105 / 2001 regarding the National Information System concerning the movement of the persons and goods through the border (S.I.F.) which overlap with the dispositions in the Government Emergency Ordinance no. 128 / 2005 regarding the establishment, organization and functioning of the National Information System of Consignments.
3. To identify the new Community legislative acts to be included with the process of reviewing the Schengen Action Plan.

B. Institutional

1. To provide the preparation at the level of the territorial structures of R.B.P., of the Schengen self-evaluation missions and the participation in joint teams pursuant to the Decision of the National Commission for Schengen Self-evaluation.
2. To provide some mechanisms for the implementation of measures necessary in the process of accession to the Schengen Area with tasks and terms for each structure of R.B.P.
3. To monitor the fulfilment of the measures within the Schengen Self-evaluation reports.
4. To take measures in order to establish a joint work group General Inspectorate of Border Police (G.I.B.P.) and General Inspectorate of Romanian Police (G.I.R.P.), coordinated by M.I.R.A. (Ministry of Interior and Administrative Reform), for the purpose of working out the Study / Strategy / Programme regarding the merging of the two structures.
   For this purpose, the two general inspectorates will have a permanent collaboration, in order to become compatible and harmonized:

• To create some mixed mobile patrols, in collaboration with Romanian Police and the border policemen in the neighbouring states (ring 1).
• To establish new Contact Centres / Points, necessary to improve the exchange of data and intelligence with European partners and neighbouring countries (ring 2).
• To implement the FADO system in Romania.

C. For the accession to Schengen

• To assure the implementation of the Common Core Curriculum for border policemen (after the completion of the reviewing process under the coordination of Frontex) by all the structures responsible for the training of the border policemen.
• To implement the provisions of the Integrated Concept of training regarding Schengen approved by the National Commission for Schengen Self-evaluation.
• To implement the e-learning system at the level of R.B.P. structures.
• To provide the infrastructure, in all the border crossing points, pursuant to Schengen requirements (separate passenger flows, harbour facilities, communication infrastructure etc.).
• To take part in the accomplishment of the System for the surveillance and observation at the Black Sea - S.C.O.M.A.R. and to assure the interconnection and interoperability with the systems of surveillance at the Black Sea, implemented by the Ministry of Transport, Constructions and Tourism, VTS / AIS, Ministry of Defence and Ministry of Agriculture, Forests and Rural Development, the monitoring system through satellite of the fishing boats.
• To implement the Integrated System for the surveillance of the traffic of ships on the Danube and in the Danube Delta - SCOD and to assure the interconnection and interoperability with the surveillance system at the Danube RO-RIS, developed by the Ministry of Transport, Construction and Tourism.

SPECIAL CASES

Drugs - the king of heroine

One of the biggest traffickers of heroine in the world, the coordinator of a large international network was arrested, in March in 2007, in Austria.
The trafficker, an Iranian citizen, residing in Bucharest, was monitored, for a year and a half, by the Romanian border policemen, together with officers, from S.I.E. (Foreign Intelligence Service), policemen from U.S.A., Netherlands, Turkey, Great Britain and Germany.
The Romanian officers kept a permanent contact with the authorities specialized in countering international trafficking in drugs in the five states mentioned above.
The involved authorities met, regularly, within a work group and in November 2006, a representative of the Attorney General of U.S.A. coordinated this type of meeting, at the headquarters of G.I.B.P.
On the basis of permanent exchange of information, more than 200 kilos of heroine were seized and tens of important members of the international network of heroine production and distribution were arrested.

Patrimony objects - Dacian Bracelet

The border policemen in Maramures, together with G.I.B.P. officers and under the coordination of the Maramures D.I.I.C.O.T. prosecutors apprehended, after a sting operation, a Romanian citizen who was about to sell a Dacian bracelet stolen from the Sarmisegetuza - Regia archaeological site. The bracelet recovered by the border policemen did not involve any costs for the Romanian State.
The action, which lasted approximately 6 months, was very difficult because the seller of the bracelet was a member of a dangerous criminal group focused on the traffic of objects belonging to the national cultural patrimony. He was looking for potential buyers in Ukraine, and to recover the bracelet all the legal specific means were used - under cover investigators, speakers of Ukrainian language, phone listening, operational surveillances etc.
The under cover officers were permanently checked by the seller and the details of the transaction changed frequently.
After a sting operation organized in the dwelling of the person in case, the patrimony object was recovered and the man was initially detained for 24 hours by the D.I.I.C.O.T. prosecutors - Maramures Territorial Office to be presented to the Maramures Court with the proposal of preventive arrest for 29 days.
The bracelet, which has around 1100 grams and was about to be bought for 110 000 EUR.

Terrorism

After a one month monitorization, the prosecutors of Directorate for Investigation of Crimes related to Organized Crime and Terrorism within the Prosecutors' Office of the High Court of Cassation and Justice and the border policemen of the Directorate for Countering Cross-bordering Criminality (D.C.I.T) within the General Inspectorate of Border Police, with the support of the policemen within the International Police Cooperation Centre - the Interpol National Office, apprehended on 07.06.2007, in Bucharest, two foreign citizens - one Polish citizens, of Palestinian origin and one Spanish citizens of Chilean origin - international pursued for deeds of terrorism.
It was very difficult to trace those persons because they did not communicate with each other and changed their residence all the time.
According to the American authorities, bench warrants were issued on the name of those persons for having committed crimes of association in order to provide resources to terrorist organizations, money laundry, association in order to obtain and to use antiaircraft rockets and association in order to murder U.S.A. citizens. They had been sentenced to prison for life.