INTERPOL conducted a workshop in the Bahamian city of Nassau to help specialised officials develop the necessary knowledge and skills to identify fraudulent documents and enhance border security
INTERPOL conducted a workshop in the Bahamian city of Nassau to help specialised officials develop the necessary knowledge and skills to identify fraudulent documents and enhance border security.
Held on December 6-8, 2017, the security document examination training involved 16 border control officers and law enforcement officials from the Bahamas, Colombia, Jamaica and Mexico, with the aim of helping participants develop their ability to detect counterfeit travel documents.
Participants also joined in practical exercises on printing methods, document security features, verification technologies and techniques for examination.
It is the second training course to be jointly delivered by INTERPOL’s Counterfeit and Security Documents Branch (CCSD) and Gemalto, an international digital security company, with the first held in Uraguay in December 2015.
CCSD Coordinator Daniela Djidrovska said that the second training programme underscored the need for forensic document examiners and border control officers to collaborate in order to improve the process of detecting fraudulent documents, alongside better use of INTERPOL’s global databases and tools.
These include the Dial-Doc, which enables immigration and border officers to compare documents against recently detected fake ones, the Stolen and Lost Travel Documents database, and the Edison database, which makes detailed examples of genuine documents available to frontline officers.
Earlier this year, INTERPOL responded to the threat posed by foreign terrorist fighters by increasing the use of biometric databases and capabilities to track the movements of criminals, terrorists and suspects globally.
One initiative, Project First, aims to assist law enforcement to strengthen border security by using biometric data, such as facial recognition and fingerprints, on individuals linked to terrorist activities.
INTERPOL’s database contains over 180,000 fingerprint records and supports over 40,000 searches annually, with 1,700 individuals identified in 2017.
In 2016, a facial images database was launched containing data from 135 countries, resulting in 50 positive ‘hits’ in its first year of operation.
Head of the INTERPOL National Central Bureau in Nassau, Telinda Missick, said: “It has become very easy for people and goods to cross international borders.
“Hence, international cooperation must be strengthened to guard against the increase of fraudulent documents which threatens national security.”
Lovro Persen, Security Documents and Product Expert at Gemalto , said: “Building the capacity of stakeholders to secure documents from counterfeiting is one of Gemalto’s key missions as a major industry expert, and we are looking forward to an expanded collaboration with partners such as INTERPOL on this important issue.”
