“More than a thousand people have already applied to become members of border patrol personnel since the Police began recruiting in September”, the Minister of Interior’s Parliamentary State Secretary said at a press conference.

Károly Kontrát stressed: “Hungarian border protection must prepare to defend against even greater migration pressure than last year, and this is why the Government has decided to increase the ranks of the police force by three thousand”.

“The danger has not passed and we cannot exclude the possibility that an even greater mass of migrants than last year will set off for Hungary”, he added, pointing out that “There are three million migrants waiting in Turkey, one million in Libya and five and a half million in Egypt, and Hungary not managed to urge the Member States of the European Union to protect the EU’s external Schengen borders”.

Mr. Kontrát told reporters that the Police Force was continuously recruiting border patrol personnel and there is very high interest in the course: 4515 people have made enquiries so far and 1077 of them have already applied to attend the training course; their average age is 28.

“The Police are still awaiting applications from Hungarian citizens aged between 18 and 55 with no previous criminal record and who have a school leaving certificate and are permanent residents in Hungary, and who would like to participate in protecting the border”, he added.

The State Secretary also told reporters that the Police are continuing to recruit on Facebook and Twitter, an addition to which enquiries are also being accepted by telephone. This week, the police will be recruiting in Békéscsaba, Győr, Budapest, Tököl, Balatonalmádi and Nagyréde.

“During the first phase of the recruitment process applicants will undergo physical and psychological assessments, and the procedure also includes an interview to assess the applicant’s career suitability as well as vetting”, he noted.

“Successful applicants will receive two months of law enforcement training during which they will be receive a gross salary of 150 thousand forints/month, after which they will participate in four months of patrol and patrol unit training during which time they will receive a gross monthly salary of 220 thousand forints in addition to foreign language supplements, night duty and stand-by supplements and paid overtime, as well as 200 thousand forints-a-year in cafeteria benefits, housing benefit, clothing subsidy, travel subsidy and preferential mobile phone tariffs”, Mr. Kontrát continued.

In reply to a question from Hungarian news agency MTI on whether the schedule previously mention by Hungary’s National Chief of Police according to which training courses would begin as early as November, he said that the Police had created the conditions for the first courses to begin as scheduled.

The Government decided on 10 August to increase the number of border patrol companies with the recruitment of three thousand new police officers in the interests of reinforcing border protection, and the Police began recruiting on 1 September.

(MTI)