The Ministry of Interior (IeM) said that the number of cases of illegal crossings or their attempts at the Latvian–Belarusian border is increasing rapidly, so it is expected that groups of people will continue to gather at the border of Latvia, which could cause mass riots and damage to the construction of the State border.
The psychological effect sound device has a nonlethal principle of application. It makes a loud noise in a certain direction that causes great discomfort and psychological effects on a person.
Use of the device will also be allowed in response to public order violations and in cases where border offenders will interfere with the performance of border guards' tasks.
At the same time, the government approved amendments intended to allow the State Border Guard to use devices intended for the capture, landing, or destruction of remotely or autonomously controlled devices.
“Unauthorized use of unmanned aircraft is gradually increasing, which poses objective risks to the provision of border guarding system measures,” the IeM stated. Unmanned aircraft are used to smuggle goods across the national border, to obtain information on the deployment of technical means of border surveillance, as well as to organize the movement of illegal immigrants across the national border.
