On 19 April 2024, the European Open Championship for Customs Dog Handlers and Detection Dogs, hosted by the State Revenue Service (hereinafter – SRS) of the Republic of Latvia, successfully concluded. This large-scale international event concludes the implementation of the project “Preventing and combating economic crime at the Border Crossing Point “Terehova””. Within the framework of the project, the Cynology Centre of the SRS National Customs Board has been built and opened in 30 Maskavas street, Rēzekne.
15 teams participated in the Championship. 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 – two SRS National Customs Board teams, the State Border Guard and the State Police team – competed in various disciplines.
On 17 and 18 April, teams competed in drugs and cash searching in vehicles, premises and luggage. The Championship concluded on 19 April, with team representatives competing in the discipline of obedience.
1st place in the individual overall performance “Drugs searching” was won by Jan van den Berk with dog Swa (Belgium), 2nd place – Ian Kavanagh with dog James (Ireland) and 3rd place – Jānis Kozlovskis with dog Rago (SRS National Customs Board).
1st place in the individual overall performance “Cash searching” was won by Andrejs Ogorelovs with dog Bono (SRS National Customs Board), 2nd place – Filip Gavor with dog Force Graf Czech (the Czech Republic) and 3rd place – Sarah Fagan with dog Maggie (Ireland).
1st place in the team competition was won by the team from Belgium, 2nd place – team from the Czech Republic and 3rd place – SRS National Customs Board’s 1st team from Latvia.
The European Open Championship for Customs Dog Handlers and Detection Dogs took place from 16 April until 19 April 2024 in Rēzekne and Rēzekne district, Latvia. The aim of this Championship was to develop professional skills of dog handlers and service dogs, as well as to strengthen cooperation and exchange practical experience among Latvian and foreign customs authorities.
For twenty years now, dog handlers with detection dogs trained in searching for narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances have been involved in customs control measures in the SRS National Customs Board, from 2008 – dog handlers with detection dogs trained in searching for tobacco products, whereas since 2012 – dog handlers with cash detection dogs. The Latvian customs authority currently employs dog handlers with 44 service dogs.
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 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.
