The government of Trinidad and Tobago is considering the implementation of biometric border screening at the country’s two international airports.
The news came by way of Minister of National Security Major General Edmund Dillon, who spoke on the matter in a parliamentary session. Dillon asserted that the government is working to adhere to a United Nations security resolution requiring the implementation of security mechanisms to stop terrorists from returning to the country from abroad, with passenger screening systems being an important component of such efforts.
While the government hasn’t yet settled on biometric screening, Dillon stated that government officials “are presently evaluating effective border control technology such as biometric facial recognition and automated fingerprint recognition for installation at the two international airports,” in addition to other enhanced security measures.
In other countries, biometric border screening has been implemented at airports largely as a customer service measure, helping to improve efficiency in passenger processing; this has certainly been the case in Aruba, for example, where tourism is a major concern. But the security benefits of biometric screening are increasingly being recognized as well, with the US’s border security agency currently trialing its own such measures. In the case of Trinidad and Tobago, both sets of benefits could prove compelling to the government authorities.
Source: Newsday Trinidad and Tobago
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February 29, 2016 – by Alex Perala
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