Border Guard Cooperation : Creating Cooperation in the Baltic Sea Area

• Project Turnstone is a collaborative project partly funded by the European Commission. The project is an initiative by the Stockholm Police. Collaborating partners in the project are the Swedish Coast Guard; Region Northeast, the Helsinki Police, the Gulf of Finland Coast Guard District, the Police and Border Guard Board in Estonia, the State Border Guard of the Republic of Latvia, and the State Border Guard Service at the Ministry of Interior of the Republic of Lithuania. The aim of this project is to decrease trans-boundary criminality and improve day-today cooperation between border officers in the Baltic Sea region. This study analyses this collaborative project and especially the operative joint activities conducted during the implementation of project Turnstone. What is unique about the Turnstone model of working is the implementation of the operative action week where officers have the chance of exchanging, sharing, and cooperating with immediate action in the same office using their own channels of information. The purpose of the study is to map and analyse how the staff of the different organizations experience, understand, and define successful cooperation and collaboration obstacles encountered during cooperation with neighbouring organizations. The study is qualitative and based on ethnographically gathered material such as field observations at the different border agencies and qualitative interviews. 73 interviews were conducted with border police officers, police officers, border guards, and coast guard officers from the participating organizations. The findings suggest that interviewed officers see Project Turnstone as a rare opportunity for close, personal cooperation where officers can build strong police, border, and coast guard networks and increase and strengthen previous cooperating practices. This is due to colocation and interpersonal interaction where officers can learn about each other’s organizational practices, establish trust, and achieve the same goals. On the other hand, collaboration obstacles were also raised, such as language and communication difficulties, differences in national legislations, and fear that the opportunities for joint action weeks and close cooperation will diminish after the termination of project Turnstone. Despite these obstacles, interviewed officers share a common sense of purpose and motivation and see close interpersonal cooperation as the best way of protecting the EU and Schengen area from criminality in the Baltic Sea area.

Ämnesord

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Sociologi -- Sociologi (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Sociology -- Sociology (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

border guards

Europe

EU borders

Baltic Sea area

cooperation

collaboration

Samhällsvetenskap

Social Sciences

Kriminologi

Criminology

Poliskunskap

Poliskunskap

Sociology

Sociologi

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