“The era of more open borders, integrated economies and new technologies has thrown up new security challenges. Classic threats to security – in other words, military threats posed by hostile states – are now replaced by new, dynamic threats that risk disrupting our society and endangering our citizens...”
Those were the words of Jose Barraso, president of the European Commission, during an address at a public meeting earlier this year.
When we talk with governments, public security practitioners and citizens, there is a convergence of opinion, that the new discipline and approach to public security needs to be vastly different, much more integrated and increasingly agile.
In the past, public security was based upon organisational silos. Now we are seeing the adoption of an integrated public security strategy which breaks down organisational and cultural barriers, and sets all security and safety activities within an overall framework which is complementary, harmonised and synchronised. This approach is also much more efficient and effective.
The technology used to be largely bespoke, costly and based upon old fashioned thinking about technology and information. Now we are seeing thought leadership with the procurement of solutions that address the security problem from a process, information/intelligence and collaboration/co-ordination perspective.
Public security was traditionally not a place for mentioning transformation, returns upon investment, end-to-end processes, benefit realisation and modernisation. In today's public sector, all aspects of government can benefit from such an approach with benefits and resources being realised at the front operational end, rather than wasted upon administration, duplication and manual processes at the back.
The reason for this change in approach, philosophy and strategy are clear. Globalisation, trade, travel, mobility and technology are all presenting huge opportunities for law abiding citizens, companies and organisations to do things differently, more quickly, more flexible and economically. However, these same factors are also increasing opportunities for organised crime, terrorism, traffickers and illegal immigrants to develop different, more sophisticated and effective ways to operate.
If we put this in the context of increasing volumes of traffic, trade, passenger movements, technology advancement and communications, and at a faster pace, set against the reality that public security resources cannot match the levels of current and future demand, there is contradiction.
How can we increase security and safety, streamline the movement of people, goods and services nationally, regionally and internationally while tackling/reducing the levels of threats to public safety and security?
The first major way we see governments tackling this is in the development of an overarching strategy framework which is based upon public security function, not organisation.
When we list these functions it is much clearer to all concerned that this approach presents great opportunities for integration, while ensuring that various privacy and access rights and concerns are incorporated, for example in the legitimate use of data.
So the new approach to public security includes the following key areas:
* Identity management - national and international.
* Passport, visa and asylum.
* Border control and immigration.
* Customs/movements compliance - people, goods, money and services.
* International and domestic counter terrorism.
* Criminal justice and penal agencies.
* Police, emergency and first responders.
* Critical infrastructure protection.
Alongside this new approach is an acknowledgement that many of the pain points across function are the same. For example intelligence management and intelligence led activity are a common theme for achieving operational excellence. Investigative case management is another area where security services, police, national agencies, border agencies and customs require operational excellence.
Then if we look to identity management, we can see that this is fundamental to all aspects of public security and when we look to cases and examples where this has gone tragically wrong, we know that having the correct information about a person's identity is key to a successful security process, function and having a strong security framework.
With regards to incident, disaster and crisis management we can also see that the approach to major disasters and incidents and subsequent response needs to be fundamentally altered. This does not mean our public security organisations are not doing an excellent job, rather that new ways of working, supported and enabled by technology, can provide the emergency services at the scene with better situational awareness, on their task, current picture, their location and also equipment levels as well as casualty states and hospital bed availability.
When we look at the core competencies required to deliver a more safe and secure society, we see that there are four areas of focus that can add real value and benefit. These centre upon awareness, preparedness, responsiveness and resilience. This is where we are applying new approaches to deliver improved core competency.
So, if this new approach is being adopted, why is it that many organisations still have a disintegrated and fragmented set of approaches and processes for improving pubic security and safety? Consequently their technology is often siloed, bespoke, inflexible and unable to accommodate change, quickly, easily or at low cost, for example biometrics. The key is overall strategy and conviction to change, alter, innovate and challenge tradition and culture within organisations.
If these organisations can take a fresh look then technology can play a key role alongside a change programme in securing operational excellence and providing an adaptive, innovative and transformed set of functions that deliver a safer and more secure society.
There are, however, organisations in Europe that are embracing this idea. For example in disaster and crisis management the Swiss government has responded to previous disasters and redesigned its overall strategy and processes, underpinning this with change management and new technology.
Fresh ideas and innovation is being undertaken by some leading police forces and customs organisations, we are even seeing this approach adopted in the management of child cases.
In short, their aim should be to enable a successful transformation of public security for organisations, by providing the tools and framework or greater, more effective security with higher levels of efficiency.
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