B207 Online Tutorial 1 – Handout 1.

1 – Reading Activity Essay

Essay Question:
Criminals and terrorists seem to be able to travel around the world at will and the police
in
most countries are unable to prevent many serious crimes and acts of terrorism as a
result.
Discuss why this might be so and how this problem is being addressed. Finally, evaluate
the current measures being taken to address the problem.

Introduction

During the twentieth century, the world seemed to shrink: globalisation meant that the
same products and services were available across the globe; cheaper telephone calls and
the development of the Internet made international communication easy; and cheaper air
fares and more frequent flights made international travel available to many people for the
first time in their lives. This situation is set to continue into the twenty first century and
while it has clearly had many beneficial effects, it is becoming increasingly evident that there
are some negative impacts on the security of the world. The aim of this essay is to clarify
what problems have arisen, outline the counter measures currently being adopted and
assess their likely effectiveness.

Loss of Global Security

Criminals and terrorists are among those who have profited from this situation, and they
have quickly learned how to organise and commit international crimes and how to carry out
terrorist activities around the world. They now travel wherever they wish and Interpol, the
association of international police forces, has difficulty in preventing them from doing so.
This is partly because paper passports, which are used for international travel, can be easily
forged. With a false passport, criminals and terrorists can travel wherever they wish. A black
market for false papers is flourishing internationally and huge amounts of money are
involved.

Mafia-style crime rings operate in many of the world’s major cities now. Their illegal
business operations include drug smuggling, running prostitution rackets and money
laundering. The increase in travel and movement between countries allows them to
smuggle prostitutes and drugs into countries illegally. With so much movement in and out of
ports and airports these days, it is almost impossible for the authorities of any country to
monitor all the activity and to detect and intercept illegal activity.

Addressing the Problem

Ways of countering these kinds of undesirable criminal activities are being investigated and
in some cases, implemented. Immigration points at London Heathrow airport and
Amsterdam airport are already introducing iris pattern recognition. This is a method of
carrying out the biometric scanning of passengers electronically which offers a solution to
the problem of criminals adopting false identities to avoid detection (Fearis, 2002). Video
scanners capture the unique iris patterns of each newly arrived passenger and match them
against records held on databases. Other forms of identification such as voice recognition
and DNA profile matching may also have a role in maintaining security in the future.

© University of Southampton, 2007 Page 1 of 2

B207 Online Tutorial 1 – Handout 1.1 – Reading Activity Essay

With a view to detecting the illegal rackets of mafia-style gangs in the major metropolitan
centres, special police units are working undercover to infiltrate the gangs themselves.
Dawn raids on premises used by such gangs are then made and the criminals brought to
justice. In addition to this, police forces in different countries are exchanging information on
suspects and working cooperatively in the search for illegal international gangs. This has
already yielded some successes in the hunt for international terrorists in hiding, who are
planning attacks across Europe, and a number have already been detected, charged and
brought to trial as a result of such cooperation.

Effectiveness of the Counter Measures

New biometric authentication technologies are being employed by security forces with ever
increasing effectiveness, and as databases expand to include larger proportions of the
population, it will become more and more difficult for a criminal to slip through the net.
However, at present the use of such aids as iris pattern recognition systems is not
commonplace although airports are increasingly making use of them. With most new
technologies there are also considerable costs involved. Moreover, it is well known that as
technologies improve, so do the criminals and their skill in finding ways around them.
Identity theft is already becoming a major problem and in extreme cases, international
criminals have resorted to new finger print grafts as well as changing their physical
appearance to avoid detection.

Although the level of international cooperation existing between police forces in different
countries has undoubtedly increased recently, it has not yet proven wholly successful. This is
because the exchange of highly sensitive information about internal security matters is still a
difficult area which requires a great deal of trust between the countries involved. Terrorists
are able to benefit from this situation and, in some cases, escape detection until it is too
late. From a positive perspective, the cooperation is in its early stages and it can be
presumed that with time it will achieve a higher degree of effectiveness.

Conclusion

From the discussion above it is evident that a new kind of problem has developed in the
world as a result of the vast improvement in travel and communication. Despite the fact
that counter measures are already being considered and in a few instances, implemented,
these still need to be supported by more resources and manpower hours to tackle the
growing problems. The success of our initial efforts to combat these new problems will only
become apparent at some later date in the future.

Reference
Fearis, B. (2002) ‘Jet away in the blink of an eye’. In The Times Newspaper,
19.01.02

© University of Southampton, 2007 Page 2 of 2