What’s so special about Special Branch?

Thursday, February 3, 2022 - 09:36

“Our work has three main strands – Counter-Terrorism, Immigration issues and VIP personal protection,’ says Inspector Neil Zammitt who heads up the RGP’s Special Branch. ‘But absolutely everything that we do is linked to Gibraltar’s national security.’
Inspector Zammitt explains that Special Branch plays a key role in protecting Gibraltar from threats to its national security, especially those from terrorists and other extremists. It is responsible for acquiring and analysing intelligence through various methods, the monitoring of travellers at Gibraltar’s points of entry, surveying of critical national infrastructure and delivering protective security advice. 


“Gibraltar is unusual in that it has a land frontier with another jurisdiction, a busy commercial port and an international airport,” says the Inspector.
“And there are very few police forces anywhere else who have all those three to monitor.
“Within our remit of ‘Ports Policing’, we need to keep an eye on these three entry points into Gibraltar. Clearly, we cannot check every individual who arrives on the Rock but we do look out for certain patterns – someone who claims to be ‘a holiday maker’ but who perhaps flies in and out of Gibraltar suspiciously often. Or we may spot that someone makes regular visits to particular countries immediately prior to their visits to Gibraltar. We might need to have a chat with such people to ask for an explanation of their reasons for being on the Rock.”

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03-02-22 PANORAMAdailyGIBRALTAR