-at INTERPOL Conference
-by David Clarke
Criminal networks are increasingly operating across borders, using the same transportation routes, financial systems and digital platforms to facilitate illegal activity.
As Guyana hosts the 27th INTERPOL Americas Regional Conference, stronger intelligence gathering and information sharing are emerging as key tools in confronting those networks.
In her address at the opening of the conference, Minister of Home Affairs Oneidge Walrond stressed that effective regional security depends on countries being able to share intelligence and coordinate investigations.
“Our collective security therefore depends upon strong, sustained, and trusted partnerships. It depends upon intelligence moving quickly between jurisdictions. It depends upon coordinated investigations. It depends upon the exchange of expertise and operational support. And above all, it depends upon trust between institutions and between the men and the women who lead and serve within them,” she said.
The government says the Police Force, Immigration Department, Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit and other security agencies are strengthening information sharing as Guyana moves toward a more integrated, intelligence-led security architecture.
Prime Minister Mark Phillips also underscored the importance of ensuring that intelligence does not simply reach another agency or jurisdiction; but gets to the officers who can act on it.
“Intelligence cannot protect the public when it fails to reach the official required to act upon it. Nor can modern technology correct delays caused by uncertain authority or poor coordination. International information must reach the frontline in time to influence an investigation, subject always to the laws and safeguards that preserve public confidence,” he said.
The conference is examining how existing mechanisms can be made more effective, with the aim of ensuring that when investigations cross borders, law enforcement agencies can identify the right contact, obtain information quickly and act within the law.