Arias Fernández told Human Rights Watch that Frontex goes on patrols, accompanied with at least one Greek officer. He said that in these patrols the “guest officers” are authorized to apprehend migrants and then transfer them to Greek counterparts who run the detention facilities. In our meeting with three Frontex officials, Kari Wahlström, Leszek Szymanski, and Gerald Baumkirchner, we raised the concern that when guest border guards apprehend migrants and transfer them to Greek detention centers they are thereby exposing the migrants to inhuman and degrading treatment. The three Frontex officials confirmed that the border guards from the RABIT deployment did, in fact, participate in such patrols, and Baumkirchner responded by saying: You say that we should be doing things that we are not doing, or that we should stop doing what we are doing. But this is the procedure. We do things according to our mandate.110 As indicated above, these Frontex officers confirmed that they were aware of the generally unacceptable detention conditions that have been extensively documented.111 The physical locations where Frontex border guards work also make it clear that they, too, are familiar with these conditions. In Feres detention center, for example, Human Rights Watch met with several Slovak border guards who were sitting there during the day. Although they were unwilling to engage with Human Rights Watch in substantive discussions about their work, they acknowledged that they participate in apprehensions and said they were fully aware of the situation at the detention center. As they were waiting for their nighttime patrol as part of the RABIT force, the Slovak border guards sipped coffee and chatted on a balcony overlooking the open-air part of the detention area, from where the detainees were visible. Although Frontex has explained that RABIT border guards are under “instructions” from Greek authorities,112 a strict chain of command is not evident when guest guards deployed by Frontex patrol alongside the Greek police. Although the Frontex Regulation holds that border guards participating in RABIT "shall wear their own uniform while performing their tasks,"113 officials in the Frontex Operational Office in Piraeus explained that they are not under the command of their home authorities. Nevertheless, in some cases, they report back to their home authorities after going on patrol. During RABIT patrols guest border 110 Human Rights Watch interview with Gerald Baumkirchner, Pireaus, February 15, 2011. 111 Human Rights Watch Interview with Wahlstöm and staff, Piraeus, February 15, 2011. Ibid. This is also made explicit in the RABIT regulation: Regulation (EC) No 863/2007, July 11, 2007, http://eurlex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:32007R0863:en:NOT (accessed April 13, 2011), Article 5, 113 Frontex Regulation, Article 4. 112 39 HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH | SEPTEMBER 2011