Officials from the US and Canada met to discuss the rise of transnational crime and threats to national security.
In a recent article, Dan Karpenchuk, correspondent of WBFO (Buffalo and Toronto NPR stations), outlines the central areas of focus between the two parties, one of which being the exchange of data between Canada’s Border Services Agency and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police with their US partners. This will improve intelligence sharing between the agencies, which is crucial in detecting, investigating, and preventing transnational crimes and terrorism.
The agreements will also help combat the use of illegal guns by criminal networks. Officials emphasized the importance of the agreements in addressing the growing use of ghost guns, which are firearms that are privately made to avoid regulation, registration, and tracking as they are becoming increasingly common in violent crimes. Similarly, officials focused on the need to curb opioid flow, which is responsible for thousands of deaths each year in both countries.
Moreover, the two countries will receive training on shared privacy laws, which will enable law enforcement officials to collaborate effectively while maintaining data protection and privacy standards.
Karpenchuk mentions that the officials did not provide specific details on the changes resulting from the agreements, but that the agreements were critical to strengthening cooperation and collaboration between US and Canadian law enforcement agencies. The agreements are an essential step forward in addressing transnational crime and threats to national security.
Moments like these serve as great examples of why maintaining and analyzing data is so important.
Read more about the discussion here.
