Fully aware of its functions and assigned tasks, Squadron 42 under Coast Guard Region 4 has been intensifying measures to improve law enforcement and ensure security and safety in the Fatherland’s Southwestern sea and islands.

Squadron 42 (Coast Guard Region 4) is tasked with patrol, combat readiness, law enforcement, and protection of security and safety in the sea and island area from the Northern bank of Dinh An estuary (Tra Vinh province) to Ha Tien (Kien Giang province). In spite of a large sea of its responsibility, dispersion of its troops, and increasingly complex developments in crimes and violations of law, the Squadron has always upheld its sense of responsibility, proactively overcoming difficulties, remaining unity and uniformity, focusing on directing its offices and units to raise the effectiveness of law enforcement, thus achieving many encouraging results.

Conducting law propagation among fishermen at Song Doc fishing port

Noticeably, the Squadron has carried out the work of law propagation, education, and dissemination to raise awareness and a sense of responsibility among its staff and citizens towards statutory regulations; it has regularly closely worked with relevant competent forces, particularly the Division of Legal Affairs/Coast Guard Region 4’s Command to increase patrols to handle violations of law committed by both Vietnamese and foreign vessels. A network at grass-roots level for collecting and exchanging information has been formed and run effectively; situational developments in the key, bordering, overlapping seas have been closely monitored under regulations.

In the upcoming time, the Southwestern sea and islands will be faced with potential destabilising factors. Violations of our exclusive economic zone by foreign vessels together with violations of fishing regulations by Vietnamese vessels will continue to be complex. Crimes of all types and violations of law at sea, especially smuggling, trade frauds, illegal transport of petroleum, and drug trafficking will be increasingly sophisticated. Hence, the Squadron’s Party Committee and Command will focus their leadership and direction on adopting synchronised measures to keep raising their cadres and soldiers’ law enforcement capability as follows.

First, enhancing propagation, education, and dissemination of statutory regulations on crime and legal violation prevention and control among cadres, soldiers, and the people. This measure is of utmost importance to the task performance of cadres and soldiers as well as to awareness and a sense of responsibility among the people. Therefore, the Squadron will step up law propagation and education among cadres, soldiers, and citizens in coastal communes so as to raise their awareness and sense of responsibility towards statutory regulations. The work of law propagation and education will be conducted widely and deeply, with emphasis placed on directives, guidance, and regulations for preventing and combating crimes of various types, violations of law at sea, and violations of fishing regulations.

To that end, the Squadron will direct its political bureau and flotillas to diversify forms and methods of law propagation and education relevant to each task, each area, and target individuals. While conducting propagation and education via posters, internal radio systems, meetings, training courses, and talk shows, the Squadron will continue to design leaflets, exploit social networks, and cooperate with Nam Can district and Phu Quoc city to disseminate directives, guidance, and regulations on preventing and combating crimes and violations of law at sea. It will work with localities to organise the Contest “I love my Fatherland’s seas and islands” within schools and the Program “Coast Guards accompany fishermen”. Those efforts will help enable fishermen to more clearly understand statutory regulations and their responsibility for combining fishing with protection of national sovereignty over seas and islands.

Inspecting the transport of goods by a vessel

Second, fostering troops’ political zeal, raising the quality of training, improving troops’ knowledge of law and capacity to deal with situations. In practice, operations by the Coast Guard Force are highly independent; incidents and situations take place in complex conditions, regardless of day or night; criminal elements employ many foxy tactics; without political steadfastness or great professional competence, or good knowledge of Vietnamese and international laws, cadres and soldiers will fail to fulfil their tasks and may be even bribed and enticed to aid unlawful acts. Therefore, the Squadron will focus on rendering its cadres and soldiers cognisant of the Coast Guard Force’s honour and responsibility as well as their own functions and assigned tasks; it will step up propagation and education to encourage its troops to increase their revolutionary vigilance, keep improving their political and revolutionary moral qualities, their independent, creative thinking, and their scientific work method, and readily undertake and excellently accomplish all assigned missions.

Besides, the Squadron will direct its flotillas to intensify refresher courses, with the aim of improving their cadres and soldiers’ knowledge of law, command of foreign languages, and skills to handle incidents at sea. In the process, theory will be closely combined with practice; superiors will be required to train their subordinates; combat readiness training and practice will be aligned with patrol and law enforcement at sea to improve troops’ hands-on skills. Moreover, the Squadron will continue to collaborate with the Public Security Force, the Border Guard Force, and the Procuracy within Nam Can district and Phu Quoc city to organise refresher courses on procedures to deal with a case or an incident for its cadres and soldiers. The Squadron will frequently recommend its higher echelons to select, recruit, and deploy cadres and employees to the Squadron itself based on their academic results and task performance within offices and units of the Region.

Third, promoting the synergy of forces and means in the sea of responsibility, synchronously, effectively taking measures to prevent and combat crimes and violations of law. To do so, the Squadron will direct its flotillas to closely work with the Public Security Force, the Border Guard Force, and the Customs to design plans for preventing and combating crimes, violations of law, and illegal fishing at sea. It will proactively exchange information and opportunely grasp violations of national sovereignty over seas and islands by criminal elements and means to resolutely adopt remedial measures under statutory regulations and signed agreements. It will regularly strictly maintain combat readiness duty, well carry out patrols, closely supervise Vietnamese vessels before heading out to the sea, and monitor all vessels transiting in the sea of its responsibility. It will launch campaigns against crimes at sea, i.e. drug-related crime, illegal petroleum trading, and transport of goods of unknown origin, especially on national holidays or during major political events of the country and the Military.

The Squadron will actively cooperate with local party committees and authorities to grasp fishing operations at sea, review and categorise individuals with abnormal signs and fishing vessels without a monitoring system or seaworthiness for management. When detecting fishermen’s operations in foreign waters or disputes over fishing grounds, the Squadron will collaborate with competent offices to opportunely verify the information, report to competent offices for settlement, and adopt proper measures to ensure the safety of fishermen and their means. After each case or anti-crime campaign, the Squadron will conduct a preliminary review to draw lessons and propose new measures for law enforcement at sea in the following period.

Fourth, establishing an effective information network at grass-roots level. As the Squadron is responsible for a large sea with limited personnel and means, the building of a grass-roots information network is a deciding factor in the performance of its law enforcement tasks. Therefore, the Squadron will continue to cooperate with local authorities and competent forces in selecting individuals with great prestige within communities, improving those individuals’ skills in collecting and providing information about crimes, trade frauds, and illegal fishing as the basis for forming a reliable information network at grass-roots level. Great value will be attached to encouraging the people and forces at sea as the “eyes and ears” to monitor and report situational developments. Additionally, the Squadron will deploy its cadres and soldiers with political steadfastness and considerable experience in law enforcement to provide assistance for fishermen at their fishery businesses, creating a favourable condition for staffing the grass-roots information network. It will closely collaborate with competent offices to verify sources of information, particularly about the key sea areas, foreign research, military, law enforcement, and fishing vessels operating in the sea of its responsibility, as well as about Vietnamese fishing vessels operating in the bordering or overlapping seas. It will effectively realise regulations and programs that it have signed with other units and localities, while continuing to fostering its working relationships.

With their great political resolve and proactive spirit against difficulties, cadres and soldiers of Squadron 42 will always uphold their faith and willpower in every maritime law enforcement mission to make contributions to firmly protecting sacred national sovereignty over the Fatherland’s seas and islands in the new situation.

Col. LE DUC TUAN

Commander of the Squadron