The Ministry of Internal Affairs (MAI) has highlighted that 308 GNR and PSP personnel have been trained in border control as part of the transfer of police powers from the SEF restructuring plan.
The GNR, PSP, SEF and PJ signed on December 20, 2022, at the MAI, in Lisbon, four protocols that established the model of cooperation between security forces and services in the context of the restructuring of the Portuguese border control system.
“These protocols aimed to prepare the transfer of competencies from the SEF to the other security forces and services in the context of the restructuring of the national border control system, defining the actions to be jointly developed,” the MAI office said in a statement.
In addition to the training of 308 GNR and PSP personnel in border control, the Ministry highlights the average daily deployment of 37 guards at maritime border posts and 29 police officers at air border posts.
“One of the conclusions of the positive assessment made by political and police officials is that the ongoing adaptation of GNR and PSP personnel, with the internalization of routines and procedures of daily activity at the various border posts, will contribute to the gradual increase of the country’s operational capacity in the control of national borders”.
The MAI also mentions that since January 17, 146 elements of the GNR have reinforced shifts at national maritime border posts.
“In the Azores, the first GNR team – with 9 members – joined the SEF shifts at the maritime border from the 23rd.
With regard to the PSP, the daily deployment of 20 police officers for the control of air borders at the main national airports is highlighted, which “allowed the control of a total of 11,700 flights (arrivals and departures) and 1,739,921 passengers – 262,000 more than in the same period last year”.
In turn, the guardianship recalls that in terms of training, the third course for border control for the PSP is being attended by 43 police officers and will end this weekend, adding that there will be two more courses until April, at the end of which there will be 306 trained agents.
The MAI points out that the cooperation with the PSP has also contributed to “ensuring greater effectiveness and efficiency in the control procedures for air border crossings”.
“This has resulted, among other things, in a maximum average waiting time of 42 minutes for passengers in the border control area of airports between 05:00 and 07:15, a period that coincides with the peak arrival of passengers”.
On December 20, 2022, José Luís Carneiro announced that the restructuring of the SEF would take place during the first quarter of 2023, denying at the time that it was the extinction of a security service.
“We are talking about restructuring, even from a legal point of view, we should talk about restructuring the SEF, because the skills and people who have these skills will continue to work in the internal security system. It is expected that in the first quarter of 2023 we will have the conditions for this transition to take place,” José Luís Carneiro told journalists.
