loselkä border guard station, for example, employs 70 officials, controlling a stretch of border 250 km long. This stretch of bor-der is as long as the distance from Helsinki to Jyväskylä. - Border guards must know their oper-ating environment so that they are able to carry out their duties efficiently and safely. Professionalism is not something you acquire in just a couple of years. Recent events have emphasised the need to keep sufficient resources on the eastern border, Tolppanen says. A 180-degree change - Passenger traffic across the eastern bor-der has grown markedly in the 2000s. The growth stems from Russia becoming more affluent and the increase in the purchasing power of Russians. It continued until 2013, a record year on the eastern border and the two border crossing points of the LBGD. At that time, the eastern border saw nearly 13 million border crossings. - For years, resources for border check-ing the growing border traffic were obtained by decreasing the control of the land border. It was possible and purpose-ful while the situation was very stable. In the latter half of 2014, the market price of oil and the value of the ruble collapsed, and the Russians suffered a significant drop in purchasing power. This caused a steep decline in the volume of traffic that was most evident at the border crossing points in Lapland. In Lapland, passenger traffic across the eastern border this year will be around 50 to 60 per cent of the 2013 volume. - The operating environment has gone through a drastic change. Just a couple of years ago, the Border Guard's great-est challenge was to prepare for visa-free travel between the EU and Russia that was looming on the horizon. Border traffic across the eastern border was estimated to increase to around 20 million crossings per year. - The operating environment has now become thoroughly different. There is a deep schism between Russia and the West. The border traffic has quieted down for the time being. Instead of ensur-ing smooth border traffic, the capacity to control a more challenging situation at the border crossing points and on the overland border in the wilderness is now emphasised in the operations. Surprised by the wave of immigrants Last winter saw another entirely new kind of situation cropping up. - Last winter, on the eastern border of Lapland, we experienced an entirely exceptional situation, as 1,700 illegal immigrants entered Finland from Rus-sia via our two northernmost and remote border crossing points – and sought asy-lum in our country. The migrant phenomenon changed the focus of work on the field to a significant degree. - More border guards than before were tied at the border crossing points to pro-cess the asylum seekers and to secure the pre-trial investigation of crimes. Work days were regularly extended. In its crime prevention duties, the LBGD has traditionally concentrated on the discovery and investigation of game and fishery offences in the border region. The focus has now changed. - Prior to last year, we have annually uncovered only isolated cases of illegal immigration or arranging it. During the winter, we recorded over 150 cases of arranging illegal immigration. The full-time crime prevention personnel were reinforced from the patrol stations and other border guard districts. At the same time, the competence of the personnel has increased, and the experience we have amassed is utilised in the reorganisation of the work. Controlling the situation increased con-tacts with Russian border guards at the border stations and between the border authorities. - It has not always been easy to find common ground. If not before, we have now concretely realised the importance of knowing your colleagues in the neigh-bouring country and having a common operating model for handling even the more difficult issues. We have this well in hand. - Operative co-operation with the Nor-wegian police has always been close and straightforward at all levels of the organi-sation. Last winter's migrant phenomenon showed how important it is to maintain situational awareness, and to exchange information and share experiences on the shared external border. High media visibility - We were also constantly in the spotlight of both national and international media. The FBG certainly had not gained that much media visibility in a couple of dec-ades. Naturally, the change was major, as the border situation had remained stable in Lapland for such a long time. We had to rapidly develop new operating models and change them according to our experiences. Sacrifices were required of the personnel at all levels. All in all, we managed well. Our personnel deserve the thanks for that, says Jari Tolppanen. The situation was finally brought under control through a treaty between Finland and Russia. For a period of 180 days, only Finnish, Russian and Belarussian nationals and their family members may cross the border at the Salla and Raja-Jooseppi bor-der crossing points. This restriction ended on 6 October at 24:00 hours. - Nothing currently indicates that the situation at the border would deteriorate in the short term. Predictability on the long term is poor. The immigration pres-sure has not gone away in nearby regions of Europe. This year, a support troop has been established of reservist, or retired border guards. Nationwide, 130 officials – 20 in the LBGD – would be rehired should the situa-tion so require. They would be trained and equipped, after which they would be ready to begin border operations. - We are able to rapidly increase our strength at LBGD by 20 professional border guards. This is a very important resource for us! Last summer, the border guard arranged the first two-day training event for the reservist pool. The experi-ences were very positive. RAJAMME VARTIJAT 59
Rajamme Vartijat 3-2016
To see the actual publication please follow the link above