Delegates of the 26th ACCP conference pause for a photo op with Prime Minister Baldwin Spencer.
National Security Minister Dr Errol Cort has urged Caribbean countries not using the Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS) as one of their crime-fighting tools to get on board like yesterday.
AFIS is a computer system for matching fingerprints taken at the scene of a crime with fingerprints in a computerised database.
Dr Cort told the opening of the 26th annual conference of Association of Caribbean Commissioners of Police (ACCP) at Jolly Beach Resort that, “this technology has gone a long way in detecting criminal activity.”
He assured that countries still to implement the AFIS do not have to go it alone since assistance would be provided under the Caribbean Basin Security Initiative, “to help them do so in the shortest possible time.
“Once that system has been implemented by all Caribbean territories we will be able to share information among ourselves and extra-regionally, to be on top of criminal activity in this part of the world,” the national security minister said.
Saying it’s a work in progress, he told regional police commissioners he also looks forward to the setting up of the Advanced Cargo Information System that would help in the fight to detect guns moving in and out of the region.
He challenged, “When you return to your respective jurisdictions do all in your powers to ensure that we advance this very important system.”
The theme of the conference which ends Thursday is “Harnessing Technology for the advancement of law enforcement” and Dr Cort said his wish is for Antigua & Barbuda and the other Caribbean countries to be fully covered with surveillance by close circuit television or CCTV cameras.
He referred to the city of London, where he said CCTV was being used with almost impeccable results.
In his featured address, Prime Minister Baldwin Spencer said he was very appreciative of the work done by the ACCP in the fight against crime and urged further co-operation among members.
Spencer told the commissioners that in their quest to use more technology they must ensure they are on good legal grounding and that it is done within the context of people’s human rights.
Then there is the cost effectiveness factor.
“Will the results outweigh the investment. The use of the technology must be transparent and subject to oversight, and the technology should suit the purpose for which it is used,” Spencer advised.
(More in today’s Daily OBSERVER)
Yes, forward thinking is what will get us somewhere.
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