00:00Criminologist Dr. Randy C. Passard says participation in the Shield of Americas can strengthen
00:07Trinidad and Tobago's surveillance capacity, particularly in tracking transnational criminal
00:13operations across the country's maritime borders.
00:16When you're able to interdict drugs and firearms using maritime surveillance systems and other
00:24kinds of systems provided by the United States through their systems, you find that the quantities
00:30that you're able to detect often could be much, much larger.
00:33So therefore you're stemming the supply, right?
00:37So I would say there is indeed a lot of benefit when you talk about the Shield of the Americas
00:43and the technology that it brings, the training that it brings, the intelligence that it brings,
00:48all of the other capabilities that it brings.
00:50So it's definitely something that's a plus to the region.
00:54However, Dr. C. Passard says the country remains behind international standards when it comes
01:01to the use of technology in crime fighting.
01:04He tells The Morning Edition the security partnership can help close that gap and bring the country
01:10closer to technological capabilities being used internationally.
01:14So when, for instance, you talk about satellite systems being able to track the movement of
01:21vehicles, track and record it. And, you know, there are AI systems now that are capable of
01:28analyzing data on routes that are known to be trafficking routes. So you're able to monitor
01:34the activity that is happening, the number of vessels that are moving, when they are moving,
01:38patterns, et cetera. So you can actually use the information generated from those systems
01:44to improve interdiction of drugs and firearms and so forth.
01:48He's with the calling for mandatory tracking of vessels entering and leaving the country,
01:53saying tighter maritime monitoring could make it harder for illegal firearms to slip through.
01:58But, he says, there is another side to the firearms problem, noting that a significant portion of
02:06illegal guns reaching Trinidad and Tobago originate in the United States.
02:11What it means is lobbying to get the United States to alter their legislation a bit so that you put
02:19better
02:20checks and balances in place, so you put better tracing in place and you keep better records when it comes
02:26to the purchase of new as well as used firearms. So we need to think very carefully about what needs
02:33to
02:33be done knowing, as we do, that there is a very strong linkage between firearms originating in the United
02:40States and the accessibility in Trinidad and Tobago. Nicole M. Romany, TV6 News.
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