João Paulo II Airport, in Ponta Delgada, and Lajes Airport, on Terceira Island, have been operating for over a month without one of the essential pieces of equipment for checking passengers at borders due to a fault in the computer system, according to SIAP – the Independent Union of Police Officers.
“The failure of this equipment obviously overloads the PSP officers who are now taking over the functions of the former SEF, generating long queues at airports and jeopardizing the efficiency of border control,” says a note sent to our newspaper.
According to the union, this inspection was carried out by SEF, and there was a direct communication system between the airport and the helpdesk that managed the system, “allowing any problems that arose to be reported and resolved quickly.”
With the division of responsibilities between the PSP and AIMA – the Agency for Migration Integration and Asylum, “which manages the database of RAPID devices used by the PSP at air borders, everything has changed….”

“This loss of equipment affects efficiency and response times, especially at times of high passenger traffic (such as Christmas and New Year’s Eve) in a service that is facing intense scrutiny due to the government and institutional need to justify the abolition of SEF,” says the union.
The note sent to us states, “This institutional bureaucracy, in which the PSP operates the equipment, and the other AIMA manages the system, results in the inoperability of a system that has always worked effectively, and which now remains without a visible solution on the horizon.”

TRANSITION
The responsibilities previously assumed by SEF – Serviço de Estrangeiros e Frnteiras (Foreigners and Aliens Service) were transferred to the PSP due to the demise of that body, which occurred in the context of lawsuits and accusations, the most serious of which concerns the death of a Ukrainian citizen at Lisbon Airport.
The news that has been emerging tells of a difficult time of transition, including the inclusion of former SEF personnel in various police forces.

In Diário Insular, José Lourenço-director

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