“For the dignification of the Airport Security and Border Control Specialty and against pressure and monitoring from private entities to State professionals and services”. This is the theme of a plenary convened this Wednesday, October 29, by the Police Professionals Union Association (APP/PSP).
The plenary will be held on Tuesday, November 4th, at the Control and Border Station (ECF). The call comes one day after the formal extension of former Foreigners and Borders Service (SEF) agents in border control and the announcement of a “special team” for Lisbon and Faro airports.
According to the association’s statement, “a set of profound changes in the police service” has occurred in recent years and that the entity “has repeatedly, in this regard, warned of greater complexity, demands and risks in the PSP’s mission.” ASSP sees this reality “a lot and also in the dynamics of airport operations”.
“Shortage of personnel, poor working conditions and inability to respond, in general terms, including in the Airport Security and Border Control Divisions (DSACF)”, “internal and external pressure” and burnout at the police. The list also lists “lack of working conditions”, “lack of recognition of supplement for specialization of functions”, “overtime/accumulation/impossibility of enjoyment”, “frequent use of simplified” (simpler document verification method at borders) and lack of parking for professionals who provide services there.
They also denounce “false information abroad regarding waiting times” and “overlapping private interests over border security”. According to ASSP, airport security personnel are transferred to border control. She is reminded of the extinction of the SEF, “in an incomprehensible, touchy and risky choice of political power and with the repercussions of public knowledge”.
Task Force
O PSP national director, Luís Carrilho, will coordinate the “special team” created by the Government, to manage passenger flows at the international airports Humberto Delgado, in Lisbon, and Gago Coutinho, in Faro.
According to the joint order signed by the ministers of Finance, Joaquim Miranda Sarmento, of the Presidency, António Leitão Amaro, of Infrastructure and Housing, Miguel Pinto Luz, of Justice, Rita Alarcão Júdice, and of Internal Administration, Maria Lúcia Amaral, to which the DN had access, it is this security force – which inherited the control of airport borders from the SEF – that is “ultimately responsible for ensuring the fulfillment of the mission of task force.
One of the biggest challenges will be to reduce the average waiting times for passengers at these airports, which have suffered “significant constraints in queue management (…) with an impact on the comfort and safety of passengers and the image and economy of the country”, is written in the preamble of the order dated October 26th.
Therefore, it is imposed on the top manager of the PSP that, within 100 days, he achieves the following objectives: on arrivals, reduce the average waiting time from “less than 30 minutes” to “less than 20 and the maximum time from “less than 75 minutes” to “less than 55 minutes”; on departures, the reduction must be from “less than 20 minutes” in the average waiting time to 15 minutes and from “less than 35” to “less than 25 minutes” in the times maximums”.
The Government also requires that “passenger flow patterns and possible operational constraints be analyzed on a daily, weekly and monthly basis”; that waiting times and critical points of congestion are monitored “in real time” at Humberto Delgado airport; that the plan to expand installed capacity (e-gates, boxes and SSK) in border control at this airport be carried out “as a matter of urgency”, among others.
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