Beroun, Central Bohemia, April 12 (CTK) – Dozens of police officers took part in the Migration 300 exercise to test their readiness for a large migrant wave in the Central Bohemia Region yesterday.
The exercise tackled the possible situation of 3000 refugees being detained at the Czech border. The Central Bohemian police, rescuers and other parts of the Integrated Rescue System (IZS) were to look after 300 of them.
Regional Governor Milos Petera (Social Democrats, CSSD) said the region would manage to deal with such a number of migrants administratively. However, if their number were higher, the state would have to help it, he added.
The administrative part of the exercise took place in the regional police headquarters in Prague-Zbraslav, while the practical part, in which volunteers played Iraqi and Syrian refugees, was situated in the complex of the Beroun police.
The police received training about how to find out and verify the identity of refugees at registration points.
The refugees had to undergo decontamination and personal searches and be registered.
Regional police chief Vaclav Kucera said in a real situation, 171 policemen would be deployed, however, this number was lower during the exercise.
The regional security council also met. It should be connected with the IZS online in the future, Petera said.
Up to 40 police officers participated in the practical exercise and another 30 young policemen played the foreigners. Some firefighters and rescuers were also present, Jan Ptacek, deputy to regional police director, said.
The exercise has yet to be analysed and the results will be available in a few weeks.
Another, more extensive migration exercise has been scheduled in Central Bohemia for September, with the participation of one or two neighbouring regions. It will also focus on the protection of water sources and inhabitants.
The recent exercise near the border of Austria, which dealt with the arrival of a high number of refugees, proved that the police need mobile equipment for taking fingerprints to compare them to the existing fingerprint database on the spot.
Another problem was the interconnection of particular databases with final stations that the police used at registration points.
