OSCE and Greek experts train future Romanian border police agents in detecting forged documents

The OSCE Transnational Threats Department, in co-operation with Greek document experts, held a training course on detecting forged documents and impostors at border crossing points for 193 future border police agents studying at the ‘Avram Iancu Training School for Border Police Agents’ in Oradea, Romania, on 22 and 23 May.

The training is particularly timely as Romanian Border Police identified 1,090 cases of forged documents in 2024 and ongoing training ensures border agents can quickly detect fraudulent documents, keeping the country’s borders secure. Through discussions with document experts from Greece, the participants enhanced their knowledge about the latest trends in document forgery including high-quality counterfeit residence permits, signs of tampering such as overprinting on document holder photos and real-world case studies of forged passports with missing pages.

“The training brings added value to the Avram Iancu Training School for Border Police Agents Oradea study programme, making a significant contribution to the training of future border guards in document forgery detection proficiency and, hence, to increased security at Schengen borders. The timing of the training activity is also appropriate, as the students will take the graduation exam between 24 May and 5 June 2025, and will join the operational structures of the Romanian Border Police on 6 June 2025. Therefore, this OSCE training improves their professional capabilities at the beginning of their career in the field of public order and security,” said Police Chief Commissioner Felicia Voicu, Director of the Avram Iancu Training School for Border Police Agents.

This training course is part of an ongoing OSCE project supporting the Organization’s participating States and Partners for Co-operation in reducing the illegal crossing of borders with a fake or stolen identity, funded by the United States.