[size=85:1d6cae9i]novinite 13 July 2010

Joint Police Units with Romania Patrol Bulgarian Black Sea Resorts

Joint Bulgarian-Romanian police units have started patrolling Bulgaria’s top Black Sea resorts Albena and Golden Sands.

The joint police patrols are under a project of the Interior Ministers of Bulgaria and Romania, and designed to help alleviate any issues encountered by the increasing numbers of Romanian holidaymakers along Bulgaria’s northern Black Sea coast.

Two senior officers from the Romanian police arrived in Bulgaria last night for coordination meetings with the regional Bulgarian police directorates in the northeastern districts of Dobrich and Varna.

The first four Romanian police officers have already joined their Bulgarian colleagues.

The Romanian policemen are wearing their national uniforms. They will help the Bulgarian officers when dealing with Romanian tourists;
the police powers will be exercised only the Bulgarian policemen.

These principles of joint work were laid down in a document signed at the end of June by the Chief Secretary of the Bulgarian Interior Ministry Kalin Georgiev, and the General Inspector of the Romanian Police Petre Toba in Giurgiu.

The authorities of Bulgaria and Romania have come to an agreement for joint police patrols in the Bulgarian Black Sea resorts after an enormous number of Romanian tourists stormed the Bulgarian seaside in the recent years.

The Romanian holidaymakers prefer the northern Bulgarian sea resorts Albena and Golden Sands. About 1 million Romanian tourists are estimated to have visited Bulgaria in 2009. Meanwhile, in the spring of 2010, a number of Romanians have become the victims of crimes such as car theft in the Bulgarian resorts.

The agreements also provide for similar joint patrols on Romanian territory. However, those are not likely to be needed as the number of Bulgarian tourists in Romania is much more modest.