THE MANDATORY FINGERPRINTING of travellers entering or exiting ports of entry in Barbados is likely to have the support of the United States.
Senior business liaison in the Private Sector Office of the US Department of Homeland Security Steven J. Redlinger said the more information customs officers can receive about travelling passengers, the better.
Speaking at the American Chamber of Commerce for Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean’s (AmCham BEC) travel and tourism committee launch this morning, he said it was not his place to speak on matters of foreign countries, “but we’ve certainly taken the approach that the more data we can collect on passengers the more risk profile and the better security we can provide to American citizens.”
“In a world where we are looking at layered security and risk-based security, more data is better. I do think that you are going to start to move towards technology such as iris and facial recognition, those technologies are not as far down the road from a technological standpoint as far as they may seem,” he told the gathering at the Cave Hill School of Business.
Mandatory fingerprinting is scheduled to begin on April 1. (TG)