Finnish Border Guard

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Finnish Border Guard Suomen rajavartiolaitos Finlands gränsbevakningsväsendet
Finnish Border Guard emblem
Active	March 21, 1919–present
Country	Finland
Role	Border guard
Size	3,600 career personnel, mobilized strength 11,600
Part of	Ministry of Interior
Commanders
Commander	Vice-Admiral Jaakko Smolander

Finnish Border Guard
Parent unit	Ministry of Interior
Components	Headquarters Southeast Finland Border Guard District North Karelia Border Guard District Kainuu Border Guard District Lapland Border Guard District Gulf of Finland Coast Guard District Gulf of Bothnia Coast Guard District Air Patrol Squadron Border and Coast Guard Academy

The Border Guard (Finnish: Rajavartiolaitos, Swedish: Gränsbevakningsväsendet) of Finland is the Finnish security authority responsible for the border security. It is a military organization, subordinate to the Ministry of the Interior in administrational issues and to the President of the Republic in issues pertaining to her authority as Commander-in-Chief (e.g. officer promotions). The official English translation of the organizations name (Rajavartiolaitos) was changed in 2006 to The Border Guard of Finland.

The Border Guard's manpower is 3,600 personnel, which includes 500 conscripts who are not used for border control during peace time. Upon mobilisation the Frontier Guard would be wholly or partly incorporated into the Finnish Defence Forces and its strength increased with reservists who have served their conscription in the Frontier Guard.

1 Duties and jurisdiction
2 Equipment
- 2.1 Aircraft inventory
3 History
4 Current activities
5 References
6 See also
7 External links

[edit] Duties and jurisdiction

Finnish police, customs and Border Guard have close inter-agency cooperation

Main duties of the Border Guard are:

Guarding the land borders and territorial waters of Finland.
Passport control at border crossing points, airports and ports.
Rescue operations (mainly at sea and in the remote areas of Lapland).
Investigation of crimes pertaining to border security.
Customs control in the minor border crossing points without customs authorities.
Training of conscripts for wartime duty
(during wartime) Long range patrols and guerrilla tactics behind enemy lines.

For the discharge of its duties, the Border Guard has limited police powers in the areas where it operates. It can, for example, seize and arrest persons and conduct searches in apartments and cars pursuant to same legislation as the police, when investigating a crime. However, the power to arrest a person has been delegated only to the commanding officers of a border control detachments and commanders and vice-commanders of larger units. The Border Guard is not supposed to be used for the keeping of public order under normal circumstances but it has quick response teams that can be used to support the police in exceptional situations. This has been done several times in recent history to supplement riot police during high profile international events where there is a considerable danger of violent demonstrations. The Border Guard also has the power to keep public order in its own facilities and in their immediate vicinity. For the execution of its military exercises, any officer with the minimum rank of captain can close an area temporarily.

The Border Guard is responsible for enforcing the 3–5 km border zone towards Russia and issues the permits to visit the zone.

[edit] Equipment

Offshore patrol vessel VL Uisko

The Border Guard operates:

Seven Offshore patrol vessels (Five in West Finland, two in Gulf of Finland)(ASW equipped)
Seven Hovercraft (Five in West Finland, two in Gulf of Finland)
81 Coastal patrol crafts (56 in West Finland, 25 in Gulf of Finland)

[edit] Aircraft inventory

Frontier Guards DO 228

The Border Guard operates 13 aircraft, including 11 helicopters.

Aircraft	Origin	Type	Versions	In service^[1]	Notes
Bell 206	Italy	utility helicopter	AB 206B	3	built by Agusta
Bell 412	Italy	transport helicopter	AB 412 AB 412EP	4 1	built by Agusta
Dornier Do 228	Germany	maritime patrol	Do 228-212	2
Eurocopter Super Puma	France	transport helicopter	AS 332L-1	3	built by Eurocopter

[edit] History

A Border Guard member on patrol with a dog

After the Finnish Civil War in 1919, the control of the Finnish borders was given to the frontier troops under the command of the Ministry of Interior. Until 1945, only the Russian border was supervised by the Frontier Guard, the Swedish and Norwegian borders having only customs control. In 1929, a separate Sea Guard was founded to prevent the rampant alcohol smuggling caused by the Finnish prohibition of alcohol (1919–32).

At the start of the Winter War there were nine Border Companies (Rajakomppania) on the Karelian Isthmus. North of Lake Ladoga the Frontier Guards were combined into six Detached Battalions (Erillinen pataljoona). Further north in Petsamo the defence was left to the 10th Detached Company (10. Erillinen komppania). After the war marshal Mannerheim awarded all frontier guards the title "Border jäger" (Rajajääkäri).

During the Continuation War, the Frontier Guard companies were combined into 8 Border Jäger battalions (Rajajääkäripataljoona) and later during the Lapland War into a Border Jäger Brigade (Rajajääkäriprikaati).

[edit] Current activities

After the Second World War, the Border Guards were placed on all Finnish borders. In 1950s, the Sea Guard was attached to the Border Guard. Since then, the Border Guard has received a fine public image. It is famed for the wilderness skills of its guards foot-patrolling the forest-covered Russian border, its good efficiency in catching the few illegal border crossers and for the fact that it is the only state authority in large parts of Lapland. In these matters it resembles the popular image of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. The Border Guard of Finland is one of the links of the chain of protectors of the external borders of the European Union and Schengen agreement.

Each Border Guard District trains small number of conscripts for long range reconnaissance. Conscripts in Border Guard companies are mostly volunteers and preferrably selected from the occupants of border areas, and while trained by Border Guard, they do not perform regular border control duties. Rivalry between Sissi troops from Border Guard and Defence Forces is traditionally high.

Employment in Border Guard is much sought for, especially in North and Eastern Finland, which suffer from chronic unemployment problems. Typically a vacancy in the Border Guard receives at least 50 applications.