It’s a recipe that no doubt adds to an already stressful job for Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and other law enforcement agencies charged with securing our nation’s ports of entry. On the one hand there’s large and increasing volumes of cargo and traffic, and on the other hand increasingly sophisticated and well-organized smugglers and cross-border criminal organizations that know how to use – and often evade – technology to carry out their illegal activities.
But this doesn’t deter CBP officials. According to CBP, on a typical day its more-than 60,000 employees screen 67,000 cargo containers, arrest more than 1,100 individuals and seize nearly six tons of illicit drugs. But this situation means they must continue to stay one step ahead of the bad guys.
One approach that can prove to be very valuable is data analytical tools which can quickly process and analyze large volumes of data from numerous sources to connect the dots, identify relationships and disrupt border crime.
Read the complete report in the Feb./March, 2015 Homeland Security Today.
Louis F. Quijas is an advisory council member of the Wynyard Group, providing operational strategy, access to market networks and product development guidance. Quijas served as Assistant Secretary for the Office for State and Local Law Enforcement at the Department of Homeland Security, and was an Assistant Director at the FBI. He also was president of Datong Electronics and High Point, North Carolina Chief of Police.
