New “Schengen buses” will help police better control the border.
At the Police Academy in Zagreb, a handover ceremony took place for 23 multi-purpose vehicles, so-called “Schengen buses”, for increased control of the state border.
The vehicles have the ability to be used in the border surveillance activities. Vehicles can be used as command vehicles on the ground, as mobile border crossings and to implement compensatory measures.
The keys of new vehicles were presented to police officers by Interior Minister Vlaho Orepić. “The vehicles are worth 2.84 million euros and were acquired within the framework of the Schengen Facility Fund. This is one of the largest projects in which the Ministry of the Interior participates. These multifunctional vehicles will greatly facilitate and increase the efficiency of border police on the ground. Ten police departments at the external borders will get two new vehicles each, while the rest will be allocated to the mobile unit for state border control”, said Orepić.
“Acquisition of these multifunctional vehicles is part of the Croatian accession to the Schengen Area. That is a strategic goal for Croatia. We want to become part of the Schengen area as quickly as possible, and this commitment is shared by the European Union. The Interior Ministry has made a significant step forward in equipping the border police, which resulted in increased mobility and efficiency in the supervision of the state border, combating illegal migrations and all forms of cross-border crime. I have no doubt that favourable effects of using these multifunctional vehicles with high-tech police equipment will affect the safety of all Croatian citizens”, said Orepić.
The vehicles are equipped with TETRA telecommunications system and have a working area with two positions for police officers with a laptop, document reader and a fingerprint reader connected to the national information system for border control. The vehicles have an independent power supply.
Danijela Džimbeg from the Border Control Department explained that each vehicle represented a border control station. When stopping a vehicle which is suspected of carrying illegal immigrants, two police officers inspect documents and use the system for border control to check whether these people have crossed the border legally. They can also check whether their documents have been counterfeited.
