site.btaBorder Police’s Recruitment Campaign Attracts 167 New Applicants So Far

Since the beginning of the recruitment campaign for Border Police officers, a total of 167 people have submitted their applications, Chief Commissioner Anton Zlatanov told bTV on Thursday. In three days 450 people have taken forms to fill, he said.

The campaign will continue until September 23, and at this stage it aims to recruit 400 new employees.

"The main benchmark is to be loyal to the State and the system, to be brave, have honour, drive, and dignity, and be willing to work. If a candidate's first question is what the pay is, he automatically goes down in the ranking," Zlatanov said. 

He explained that the goal of the campaign is to address the need to reinforce the border with employees from the interior of the country.

According to the Border Police Chief, there are currently 1,500 police officers on Bulgaria's border with Turkiye, as well as 700-800 seconded officers from other structures, including the army.

Zlatanov also said that by January 1, 2025 the salaries of the Interior Ministry employees will be linked by law to the average salary, so their incomes will be raised. "The starting salary is what it is for every police officer in the Interior Ministry. It is currently around BGN 1,300-1,400, but from January 1 it will be around BGN 2,000 without a single day of service," he added.

He pointed out that this is the peak of migrant pressure. In the last 24 hours alone there have been 300 attempts to cross the border.

"Since the beginning of the year, 35,000 people have tried to cross the border. Last year in the same period it happened 126,000 times, so we have about a 70% reduction in migration pressure and a 70% reduction in those we have detained in the interior of the country as well," the Chief Commissioner added.

"We are working extremely hard to neutralize traffickers and organized crime groups and this is also reducing the pressure. We catch those driving cars with migrants every day. I'm talking about leaders, organizers, their helpers and operatives," Anton Zlatanov explained.