The State Revenue Service (hereinafter – SRS) of the Republic of Latvia will host the European Open Championship for Customs Dog Handlers and Detection Dogs that will take place from 16 April to 19 April 2024 in Rēzekne and Rēzekne district, Latvia. This large-scale international event will conclude the implementation of the project “Preventing and combating economic crime at the Border Crossing Point “Terehova””. Teams from the customs authorities of 12 countries will participate in the championship.
The competition will be attended by teams of customs dog handlers with detection dogs trained in drugs and cash searching from Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Ireland, Lithuania, Moldova, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Sweden and four home teams. Latvia will be represented in the championship by two teams of the SRS National Customs Board, as well as teams of dog handlers from the State Border Guard and the State Police of the Republic of Latvia.
The opening of the championship will take place on the evening of 16 April. On 17 April, the competition will be organized in two places at the same time: the teams will compete in searching for drugs and cash in vehicles in the Cynology Centre of the SRS National Customs Board in Rēzekne, and in Kaunata parish – searching in the premises. On 18 April the teams will show their skills in searching for prohibited substances and cash in luggage in Bekši, Ozolaine parish, Rēzekne district. The championship will conclude on 19 April in Rēzekne, with team representatives competing in the obedience discipline.
You are invited to the closing ceremony on 19 April in Rēzekne!
Everyone is welcome – both students of educational institutions and residents of the immediate and distant surroundings, as well as representatives of the mass media – to attend the event on Friday, 19 April, when in Rēzekne, 30 Maskavas street, there will be an opportunity to watch the dog handlers and detection dogs in the discipline of obedience, explore the new Cynology Centre of the SRS National Customs Board, engage in educational activities, as well as be present at the closing award ceremony.
Participants of the event will have the opportunity to be introduced not only to the work of dog handlers, but also to the work of the entire customs service in an unusual way – through games, experiments and demonstrations. Visitors are welcome from 9:00 to 12:00 in 30 Maskavas street, Rēzekne, when the competition in the obedience discipline will take place.
At 13:00, the visitors will also have a chance to watch the award ceremony for the winners of the Championship and the official closing event of the project “Preventing and combating economic crime at the Border Crossing Point “Terehova”” that will be held in the Cynology Centre of the SRS National Customs Board.
Project “Preventing and combating economic crime at the Border Crossing Point “Terehova””
The Cynology Centre of the SRS National Customs Board is built within the framework of the project “Preventing and combating economic crime at the Border Crossing Point “Terehova”” supported by European Economic Area Financial Mechanism 2014-2021 Programme “International Police Cooperation and Combating Crime”. Customs dog handlers and service dogs, on the other hand, within the duration of 45 months of the project significantly improved their professional skills, participating in the exchange of practical experience with colleagues from other countries, raising their qualifications in training led by experts of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), as well as developing research projects and using the new knowledge and methods in the process of training service dogs.
The development of the infrastructure necessary for the training of customs dog handlers and service dogs – reconstruction of premises, purchase of equipment and landscaping of the territory – was carried out in Rēzekne in parallel with the project works for the modernization of the border crossing point “Terehova”, which were implemented under the management of the SJSC “State Real Estate” (SRE). The measures implemented within the project strengthen the capacity of the Latvian customs authority and at the same time provide support to other border control authorities in the fight against economic crimes at the borders.