Examination of Witnesses (Questions 314-319)
Colonel Andrzej Mackiewicz, Deputy Commander Wojciech
Woloch, Captain Monika Parszewska, Major Stanislaw Zelent and
Captain Piotr Sawicki
24 OCTOBER 2007
Q314 Chairman: Good morning.
Mr Woloch: (Through an interpreter) Good
morning. I would like to welcome all of you here to the sector
of the Nadbuzanski Border Guard Regional Unit based in Chelm.
We are at the border guard post at Dorohusk. First, let me introduce
myself and at the same time I would like to apologise on behalf
of my Commander who could not be here to take part in this visit.
Unfortunately, at this very moment a burial ceremony has just
started. This is the burial of the Commander of this particular
border guard post. He died last Sunday and it was a tragic death.
I am Deputy Commander of the Nadbuzanski Border Guard Regional
Unit. My name is Wojciech Woloch. I have been the Deputy Commander
for almost two years. I would like to propose the following timetable:
the first part will take place here where there will be a multimedia
presentation of the whole regional unit and then a presentation
of the border guard post at Dorohusk. I hope that during the short
presentations you will have a chance to become acquainted with
some general information on our regional unit and our border guard
post at Dorohusk. Of course, this is only a general description
of the unit. If you have any questions do not hesitate to ask.
After the first part I would like to suggest going out to do a
sightseeing tour so you can become acquainted with the border
crossing point at Dorohusk. You will become acquainted with the
general organisation of duties and with the first and second lines
of control. We will be in the Schengen area quite soon and the
level of our preparation for accession to the Schengen countries
is almost complete. It will be better to show you that and then
answer all the questions you may possibly have. Then I would like
to suggest going to lunch, which will be in Chelm, and the headquarters
of our unit are also based in Chelm. Do you have any proposals
or remarks of your own as far as this timetable is concerned?
Q315 Chairman: Deputy Commander,
can I first of all thank you very much indeed for receiving us
today. On behalf of all my Committee and my colleagues, can I
express our condolences on the death of your Commander. Would
you please convey our condolences to the General as well? I will
not introduce all of my colleagues because you have already greeted
them, but we are very pleased to be here. We are much looking
forward to hearing what you have to tell us about the work of
the frontier guard. As you probably know, we are here as a sub-committee
of the House of Lords in London and our interest is an inquiry
which we are doing into Frontex. We have also very recently completed
an inquiry into the Schengen Information System SIS II so, apart
from wanting to hear from you anything you have to say to us about
Frontex and your relationship with Frontex and the impact that
Frontex has on your work, we would be very interested also to
hear what you expect to be the impact of joining Schengen. Our
primary interest is Frontex so we would very much like to know
what impact Frontex has on your work and, indeed, what advantages
or even disadvantages Frontex might have on the work of the frontier
guard. Having said that, your proposed programme sounds excellent
to me, it is exactly what we want. I suggest if you are ready
that we continue with the programme.
Mr Woloch: We will start with the presentation
because some of your questions may be answered. Later on we will
talk about Frontex and answer your questions.
Q316 Chairman: Thank you very much.
Mr Woloch: Before we start I would like to introduce
some border guards who will participate in this visit. Of course,
you know Mr Director, Colonel Mackiewicz. This is Major Zelent
and he is Deputy Head of the Border Management Department. He
is responsible for the border management of the whole border sector
protected by our regional unit.
Ms Parszewska: I am Captain Monika Parszewska.
I am a specialist in the presidential department and I will make
you acquainted with the presentation. Today I also act in the
capacity of interpreter, so forgive any possible mistakes, I only
use English occasionally.
Q317 Chairman: We congratulate you.
Ms Parszewska: Thank you.
Mr Woloch: This is Captain Sawicki. He
is the leader of the Border Duty Group and he is from the border
guard post. We will start with the presentation on the regional
unit.
Ms Parszewska: Some information on the Nadbuzanski
Border Guard Regional Unit which is based in Chelm. As you know,
Poland borders upon seven countries, as you can see from the map.
The length of the whole border is more than 3,500km, including
the external border of the European Union which is more than 1,500km.
The border that is protected by our border guard regional unit
is almost 500km long. This is something about our regional unit
and the structure of the Polish Border Guard. We have 12 regional
units in the Polish Border Guard. As you can see, unit headquarters
is based in Chelm. We have training centres based in Koszalin
and Ketrzyn for training border guards. We have a training centre
for dogs in service and that is based in Luban.
Q318 Chairman: Can I ask a quick
question because I noticed in the first slide you described the
border guard as a division of the Home Army. Are you interchangeable
with the Army or do you join the border guard and stay with the
border guard for life?
Mr Woloch: It is only a matter of tradition,
of conferring names upon regional units. The 27th Volhynia Division
of the Home Army took part in battles during the Second World
War. It took part in battles in the framework of some underground
activities and in the war in this particular area. As far as the
organisation of the Polish Border Guard is concerned, we are a
border police. It is only due to some historical memory that we
remember such divisions.
Q319 Chairman: Thank you very much.
I apologise for interfering.
Mr Mackiewicz: (Through an interpreter) One
more bit of information I would like to add is that in case of
war or the state of war, it is the Army that takes responsibility
for the protection of the border.
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