Border control is an important element of modern society. We live in a world where terrorist threats are all too real, and even with the strict security measures we have in place, criminals still find ways to do what they do.
Consider, for example, the Malaysian flight that recently went missing over the Bay of Thailand. Two individuals on that flight were using stolen passports. Although authorities have dismissed the possibility of terrorism as unlikely, the fact remains that passports are lost or stolen by the millions every year, and security officials at airports across the world are often too busy to cross-check travel documents with Interpol’s registry of stolen passports.
What can border control do to make the security process at airports more efficient?
They aren’t ignoring the problem entirely. They’ve already implemented some processes that speed up the lines at security, even if only a little. Canadian and U.S. travellers can bypass the lines entirely with their Nexus cards, for example, and pre-travel screening can do much to reduce the amount of time spent in security.
But the fact remains that the vast majority people crossing the border are honest; they aren’t there to do bad things, so it doesn’t make sense for border control to invest so much time and money in screening people who are flying to Disneyland with the family.
Instead, it makes sense to get those people across the border as quickly and economically as possible and use the time and money instead on methods that will catch the people who do mean harm.
One example of how border control can go about this is to institute an early risk assessment of all passengers, and from then on use biometrics and electronic passports to check the identity of travellers crossing the border.
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