Introduction : The Air Police Service (LPA) is made up of the federal police units working at the six Schengen airports of Belgium. The "Schengen airports" are all airports constituting an external border of the Schengen area. The Belgian airports with the “Schengen status” are the following: Brussels Airport (Zaventem) Brussels South Charleroi Airport (Gosselies) Liège Airport (Bierset) Ostend Bruges Airport (Ostende) Antwerp Airport (Deurne) Kortrijk-Wevelgem International Airport (Wevelgem) The Air Police Service has been created for different reasons: To develop a speciality in air police. To improve the competence of all air police units through information exchange and training. To standardize the execution of missions in order to prevent some forms of crime from “travelling” from one airport to another. A Federal Command Post was set up to this end in Brussels. It establishes the global air police policy in accordance with the global policy of the Federal Police’s General Directorate of Administrative Police (DGA). Thanks to this global and uniform policy, the Air Police Service can implement the National Security Plan’s priorities and principles – which have been translated into concrete action points –  on the field, i.e. in the Schengen airports. Missions : The Air Police Service’s main mission consists in ensuring border control in the broad sense of the term, i.e.: Carrying out checks at external frontiers. Enforce the Schengen rules. Enforce the national immigration policy. Searching for false and falsified travel documents. The second mission of the air police is the performance of the so-called “police function“, which involves among other things: Welcoming passengers and visitors at the airports. Recording complaints, taking depositions and dealing with them. Directing traffic. Recording offences. Going on patrol. Carrying out protection missions. The Air Police Service’s last mission is the performance of the “special police function”. This implies two main types of missions: On the one hand, offering other units of the Federal and Local Police specialised support in examining documents of all kinds to determine if they are authentic and used in a legal way. On the other hand, performing urgent investigation duties regarding criminal offences, carrying out and taking part in judicial actions and controls regarding drug trafficking and trafficking in human beings in the district of the six Schengen airports in Belgium. Brussels Airport is a cargo airport as well as a passenger airport. However the other airports have specialised in one particular field of air transportation. For example, Ostend Airport and Liège Airport are mostly used for freight transportation whereas Gosselies and Deurne are mainly passenger airports. Wevelgem Airport is specialised in General Aviation, i.e. air transportation using smaller aircraft, mainly for business men. Finally, we should also mention that a part of the Air Component is based at Brussels Airport and Liège Airport. Here are the addresses, phone and fax numbers of the Air Police Service: Federal Command Post Brussels Aiport Rue Fritz Toussaint 8 (Bloc V) 1050 Bruxelles Tel. : 02/554 48 31 Fax : 02/642 60 60 Luchthavengebouw 1930 Zaventem CCom (24/24) : Tel. : 02/709.66.66 Fax: 02/721 45 99 Ostend-Bruges Airport Antwerp Airport Nieuwpoortsesteenweg 885 bus 5 8400 Oostende Tel : 059 34 00 00 Fax : 059 34 00 51 Luchthavenlei 1 2100 Deurne Tel : 03 285 69 43 Fax : 03 239 22 05 Liège Airport Brussels South Aiport Rue de l’Aéroport 36 4460 Grace-Hollogne Tel : 04 234 84 17 Fax : 04 234 84 50 Brussels South Airport - Building 26, box 17 6041 Gosselies Tel: 071 25 18 60 Fax: 071 25 18 62 International Kortrijk-Wevelgem Airport Luchthavenstraat 1 8560 Wevelgem Tel : 056 36 07 98 Fax : 056 37 30 82