Improving Border Check Point Security

Risk-based screening at border crossing As international travel flows continue to rise, there is growing pressure to process large volumes of people and goods at EU crossing points without creating bottlenecks; at the same time, there is a need to provide better security at the “external” borders (land, sea, air), which are entry points into the EU, keeping technology costs related to border crossing points (BCP – extended control area ) as low as possible. Furthermore, the casting of the information net and the reliability of information need to be accurate; moreover, building of trust between parties and the sharing of data are as important as technology advancement. While security cannot be compromised, the traveller’s experience should be positive. Trans-border crime causes border instability and vice-versa; hence strengthening border control helps to reduce crime, apprehend terrorists and detect prohibited weapons thus making the EU a safer place. Yet, at the same time, measures need to be appropriate, in terms of efficiency (i.e. large numbers of crossings require quick control checks; maintaining the current level of checks is becoming increasingly expensive), while assuring the effectiveness (i.e. potential threats have to be detected, whereas bona fide crossings should be made smoother or seamless). In order to achieve such goals, risk-based methods and systems for screening at border crossing must be defined and actually implemented . The use of smart and novel detection technology along with advanced data analytics can truly help to improve detection of potentially dangerous people and goods while limiting to fewer accurate checks informed by pre-selected and preliminary (and non-disruptive) risk-based analysis of the flows, in respect of the quality of life of the traveller, and adding economic vitality to the union of states. There is a need to define tomorrow’s European's border control system and inter BCP real time information sharing, exploring and proposing new operational methods and solutions for border control procedures and identify new paths toward the effective and efficient adoption in real scenarios. The primary objective will be to provide the border control operators and practitioners with enhanced situational awareness, and capabilities to timely and proper identification of potentially dangerous people and goods, thus preventing smuggling and human trafficking. This can be achieved through an economically sustainable technological improvement at European Crossing Points based on risk analysis working on two main levels: customised configuration of BCPs and Risk Based Screening that combines information from multiple sources and can start already when the traveller is planning his or her journey. This early and proactive risk analysis results in an evaluation that represents an input to cross-border checks enabling the identification of bona-fide travellers, with the ultimate goal of improving the accuracy and effectiveness of border crossing activities while reducing costs. The collection and analysis of information from multiple sources represents an important factor of innovation, as the risk assessment will be based on: information provided by the traveller on a voluntary basis (duly checked), agreement with “carriers” and destination managers, as well as sensors, PNR, criminal databases and other relevant resources (such as social media, that might provide additional info or weak signal on travellers’ movement and intentions). The usage of multiple sources of information is motivated by the following reasons: • “Official” data (such as PNR or traditional security databases) do not often allow to achieve a whole picture of travellers’ movement due to the lack of pieces of information; • “Weak signals” on travellers’ movement (provided by or extracted from additional data sources such as social media) can complement such a picture; • The information on travellers’ movements is not enough for assessing the risk level of passengers: we also need information on people behaviour and other attitudes to create an effective (and informed) risk profile to support decisions at the checkpoints. Additional sources such as social media and sensors can provide relevant information to inform advanced analytics with the aim of assessing such a risk profile and perform the so-called “digital screening” . We can consider the “additional” information according to the “fitness for purpose” approach, taking into account the practicability in collecting them and the “user acceptance”. The outlined solution is a system of systems, where multiple sources providing heterogeneous data will be organised, modelled and processed, based on a set of novel data analytics and analysis algorithms. Through adaptive cost-effective solutions for border crossing points and selective checks, the main aims is to quickly identify “bona-fide” travellers through the collection of relevant information about each single traveller from the time the travel ticket is bought or visa is issued, thus creating (as much as reasonably practicable) a personal trust profile for each traveller approaching EU crossing points.