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Monitoring human traffic

One of the major problems facing the countries that will be affected by the FIFA 2010 Soccer World Cup will be the monitoring of passengers arriving at the major airports in the region as well as those entering through land borders, sea ports and those arriving by train.

Many passengers may travel with false documentation and this presents a major threat to the security of South Africa and its neighbours. A sharp increase in asylum seekers and opportunistic syndicate activities can be expected before, during and after the Soccer World Cup.

The most common modus operandi will be for these passengers to enter South Africa on both good and bad documents, destroy these documents to either fade into the background until they create a new identity by filing for a late registration of birth or to fraudulently obtain South African documentation and become a South African citizen.

These practices have the potential to economically ruin South Africa and could mean the collapse of the already over stretched medical, social and pension services of the state. A huge financial burden on the country that could last for generations is imminent if we do not invest in preventive security and control measures.

The way to effectively deal with this potential problem is to ensure that infrastructure is in place at all ports of entry that allows for the scanning and recording of the passport details of all visitors.

The scanned details and images of the person are recorded on entry and transferred to a central database. The system could even require that a visitor upon checking in at the hotel, guest house or other accommodation, has their passport scanned again for record purposes.

On departure once the World Cup is over, the details should be captured once again to give the authorities an overall picture of who entered the country, where they stayed and when they left. Should a visitor elect not to leave, they can be traced because the authorities have details and pictures of them and thus know what the person looks like.

There is no doubt that a huge number of people will descend upon South Africa and its neighbours for the World Cup and if we are going to ensure that visitors are not abusing this event as an excuse to travel to South Africa and simply disappear into the system then infrastructure, trained personnel and the correct equipment has to be in place to prevent this.

Headquartered in Centurion, the Veridoc Group offers a wide array of unique products and services.

The establishment in 2004 of the Veridoc Group, based in Centurion, was necessitated by the growing need world-wide to verify and authenticate documentation, control the access and movement of people, and the world-wide drive to address terrorism, organised crime, the smuggling of illegal substances and the detection of fraud.

The group provides a comprehensive range of specialised forensic science products and services: security paper and related security printing; access control systems and biometric scanning equipment; security vehicles; digital medical and security X-ray equipment; industrial and environmental analysers as well as integrated specialised software solutions. Veridoc is also able to provide additional forensic services to its clients through strategic associations with its business partners.

The company has concluded exclusive distribution agreements with various companies in Belarus, Russia and Hungary. These agreements make provision for Veridoc to operate in the whole of Africa, certain Middle East Countries and the whole of South America, Canada, Mexico and certain countries in Asia.

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