The role of crisis management in the functioning of border regions

The paper is devoted to the importance of crisis management in improving the safety and security of border areas residents and the development of border regions. The authors first present the essence and stages of the crisis management process, and then describe several programmes implemented jointly by the Police, Fire Brigade, Border Guard and other uniformed services. These include such joint Polish-Czech projects as “Safe Borderlands”, cross-border cooperation between the Fire Brigade and the Police, combating drug crime and cybercrime, as well as the “Joint Facility in Chotěbuz”. The article contains fragments of three in-depth individual interviews conducted personally with the commander of the District Police Headquarters in Cieszyn, the deputy director and an employee of Hasíčský záchranný sbor Moravskoslezského kraje, and the head of the Chotěbuz centre.