The result, officials say, is a diminished presence at all 150 stations that the Czech Foreigners' and Border Police (CP) maintains nationwide.

"The force continues to fulfill its duties, [but] it goes without saying that any decline in the number of employees affects the entire police unit," said Taťána Svatošová, a CP spokeswoman.

Svatošová declined to say whether plans — drafted when Schengen appeared to be a go — to transfer an additional 600 border officers to other police duties are now on hold.

It is unclear whether Schengen has translated into job insecurity. However, about 140 officers have left the border police voluntarily since the beginning of the year, and a further 130 have applied to be transferred out to other units.

There are currently 6,500 officers working on the force, down from the 7,000 the CP considers optimal.

There are currently 15 European countries that have opened their borders under the Schengen Agreement, which allows for checkpoint-free travel between countries.

No ill effects

The eight Central and East European countries that joined the EU in 2004 were to have been allowed to join the zone next October. But last month, the European Commission (EC) in Brussels said a combination of logistical and technological delays would make that impossible. The date for joining is now some time in 2010.

The EC said countries needed more time to fully implement an updated border security system, known as the Schengen Information System II, or SIS II, that is a requirement for inclusion in the zone. It operates akin to a giant database with some 15 million names, nationalities, birth dates and criminal records.

Czech politicians greeted the EC's postponement decision with anger.

"The European Commission's proceeding in this matter is troubling," Interior Minister Ivan Langer said at the time, adding that SIS II could have been up and running in the Czech Republic by next year.

Other officials accused the EC of delaying the expansion for political, rather than logistical, reasons, and said newer EU members were being treated like second-class citizens.

Opponents of letting the newer EU countries into the Schengen zone say doing so could open the way for criminals and illegal goods to make their way into Western Europe.

The CP denied that a decrease in guards on Czech borders has made the country more vulnerable to illegal immigration and smuggling, and statistics appear to bear that out.

Maik Křtěn, a spokesperson for the Czech Customs Office, said instances of smuggled goods — mainly cigarettes, drugs, and clothes — entering the country have neither increased nor decreased in the past two years, despite a reduced border presence.

"We face hundreds of smuggling cases every year. We can assume that those taking an active part in the trade will continue to do so and the current trend will be maintained without any significant changes," Křtěn said.

Cases of human trafficking have actually been on the wane in recent years, statistics show.

In 2000, the number of people caught being smuggled across Czech borders peaked at 6,963. The Interior Ministry said that more recently those numbers have fallen to 2,353.

However, the CP's Svatošová said, "Should more officers leave, then this could of course impact the general efficiency of the force's work."

She refused to say how many more border guards are expected to leave in coming months, saying any figures would be pure speculation.

Svatošová said the specter of Schengen has not created job insecurity among the ranks: "No officer has to be afraid of losing his job because of the Schengen system."

If border guard units are reduced further, Svatošová said it would be through transfers to other police tasks, like traffic duties.

Svatošová said the CP is currently trying to recruit more border guards to make up for the shortfall, but declined to go into any plans.