Latvia and Lithuania are currently implementing an ambitious, more than half a million euros INTERREG V-A Latvia-Lithuania Programme LLI-082 “SYNERGY FOR SECURITY” project “Creation of a synergy platform for the public security in the Latvian and Lithuanian Eastern border territories” involving Latvian and Lithuanian law enforcement agencies – Police and Border Guard, as well as four municipalities located at the intersection of strategic roads between Latvia and Belarus and Latvian-Russian borders. “Intelligent” CCTV cameras, border guards and policing equipment, investments in the training of security staff – all this will bring results. However, the concept of synergy in the project title has not been chosen by chance. Synergy is not just a word.

What is synergy? Mathematically it might look surprising: 2 + 2 = 5, or maybe 50 or even 100. The definition of synergy is the result is bigger than the sum of the contribution of all the parties involved. In other words, sometimes 1+1 doesn’t equal 2 but 5.

Both the border guard and the police have repeatedly acknowledged that the border area of Latgale is a huge temptation and an object of interest to smugglers and illegal immigrants. This is also confirmed by statistics – over the last five years around 300 offenders were detained only on the Belarusian border, while the amount of smuggled goods detected in 2017 was by 130% higher than in the previous year. Latvia and Lithuania are currently implementing an ambitious project “Creation of a synergy platform for the public security in the Latvian and Lithuanian Eastern border territories”. The goal of the project is to restrict smuggling and illegal border breaches.

The geographic position of the border area of Latvia and Lithuania at the EU external border imposes additional obligations on law enforcement agencies in protecting national security comparing, for example, with France or Germany, which do not have an EU external border at all. The Latvian and Lithuanian Police and the Border Guards are currently compiling forces, developing new methods and tactics for the fight against illegal migration. On April 24-25, 2018, Krāslava region a training with both sides involved were carried out, examining both binding legislation and analyzing the shortcomings in it, describing the types of delinquency, their changes and analyzing their trends. At the meeting, an analytical game was also launched in the discovery of complex delinquencies, where the joint border police of the Latvian and Lithuanian Police and the Border Guards played an important role.

The security structures of the two neighboring countries and the involved municipalities are able to accomplish a great deal, but more than enough can be achieved through the involvement and active participation of all citizens of the border municipalities. Therefore, we invite everyone living at the border – do not be indifferent! Look and speak!

 

Budget: 580 236,21 EUR

85% ERDF funding, 15% national co-financing (incl. state co-financing – 5% in LV, 7,5% in LT)

Duration: 24 MONTHS (May 17, 2017-November 16, 2019) The project is co-financed by the Latvia-Lithuania programme. Project Lead partner is latvian State police.

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