From: Frontline Safety & Security
BY SCOTT NEWARK
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It appeared this might be happening when, in 2013, the federal government announced a $92M allocation to the RCMP to deploy sensor technology at the Canada-U.S. border from Quebec/Maine to Oakville as part of its ‘Anti-Tobacco Smuggling’ strategy. A year later, with no action taken, this funding was re-announced by the RCMP as the ‘Border Integrity Technology Enhancement Program (BITEP) – yet almost two years later, BITEP remains an acronym and not a deployed action.
The importance of this failure to deploy sensor surveillance technology along the Canada-U.S. border cannot be overstated. Without it, both countries face increased risk of cross border smuggling of weapons, drugs, tobacco and people. In today’s world, that’s an unacceptable risk and what’s required is action – not repetitive ‘consultation’ or more RCMP navel gazing.
