Aquapol is an European partnership of ten countries for police work at inland waterways, on the seas and in seaports, aimed at advancing safety and fighting crime in Europe.
In 2008 Aquapol’s presidency was given to the Netherlands. One of the areas of attention for the Aquapol countries is Rotterdam’s port policy, because it is at the forefront of security and the fight against crime.
Aquapol will double the number of joint operations in 2008. Twenty-five operations will be conducted at sea, on rivers and in the ports of the countries participating in Aquapol. These operations focus on smuggling, stolen vessels, illegal work and on safety regulations.
In an age of increasing imports from China and a shortage of qualified personnel, the European harbour and river police has to be extra watchful.
The Rotterdam sea harbour police takes press along to show inspections of inland cargo vessels transporting dangerous goods on a day that similar Aquapol inspections take place all over Europe.
The Europe correspondent Christoph Nufer from the Swiss public TV channel Schweizer Fernsehen travels to Rotterdam to cover the press day of the Rotterdam sea harbour police for the reportage program ‘10 vor 10’.
For this background reportage Featurez did the research, set-up and planning, accompanied the filming and organised archive footage.