On 3 and 4 June 2024, in the framework of the training activities planned for the XXXIX Advanced Training Course held at the Scuola di Perfezionamento per le Forze di Polizia, an educational visit was conducted with the aim of honing, on a practical level, the functioning of the national and international interagency apparatus to counter illegal immigration.
The delegation, led by the Guardia di Finanza Brigadier General Maurizio Muscarà, deputy director of the Suola di Perfezionamento and composed of Italian trainees, Management Grade Police Officers/Officials belonging to the four police forces as well as police officers from France, Algeria, the United Arab Emirates, Argentina and Peru, initially visited the Operations Room of the National Coordination Center (N.C.C.) of the Frontex Agency at the Central Directorate of Immigration and Border Police, where the officers explained the security and safety procedures concerning the complex management of maritime migration flows.
At the end of the activities conducted at the “Tuscolano Headquarters”, the delegation moved to the military airport of Pratica di Mare, at the venue of the Guardia di Finanza‘s Air and Naval Operations Command, which also houses the International Coordination Center. This Center ensures a 24-hour and seven days a week coordination of national naval and air assets as well as of Member States engaged in Operation THEMIS conducted under the aegis of the European Agency FRONTEX for the protection of the European Union’s southern maritime borders. Moreover, the activity carried out on the sea by the Guardia di Finanza’s aeronaval equipments to counter this phenomen was illustrated to the trainees at the Aeronaval Operations Command, taking into account the current regulatory framework. Furthermore, the trainees visited the modern simulation center for the training of crews in air-sea operations, located at the Guardia di Finanza compound.
Then, the trainees of the Advanced Training Course embarked on an ATR 72 aircraft of the Guardia di Finanza, equipped with a special mission system for sea search, and participated in an operational mission, which ended in Lampedusa.
The visit on the island continued at the local Hotspot, where officials from the Agrigento Police Headquarters and members of the Croce Rossa described the situation inside the center and the procedures adopted following the arrival of irregular migrants intercepted or rescued at sea or landed by themselves on the island.
The Advanced Trainig Course attendees’ stay in Lampedusa continued on the following day, 4 June, with a visit to the situation room of the Naval Operations Section of the Guardia di Finanza, which was followed by a briefing given by personnel from the various local police forces, who effectively described the operations conducted in both ordinary and often emergency situations. Then, Officers from the Capitaneria di Porto (Port Authority) also illustrated aspects concerning rescue operations at sea related to illegal migration flows.
Then, the trainees boarded on operational naval units of the Guardia di Finanza and participated in a surveillance mission on the stretch of sea in front of the island.
The manner in which the visit was conducted and, above all, the valuable time of discussion with personnel operating both in national and international coordination centers and at front-line operational units, enabled all the trainees to gain a thorough understanding of the complex aspects related to the illegal migration phenomenon and the necessary coordination activities that are put in place.
