ASEAN police to link up soon

ASEAN police to link up soon

SINGAPORE (AFP): Police forces in six of the seven members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) will be linked by computer from September to flush out cross border criminals, a report said here yesterday.

The on-line system will enable police in Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and Singapore to share records and intelligence on criminals who operate on their own shores, The Sunday Times reported.

Vietnam is the seventh member of ASEAN, having joined the group only last year.

Police in the six countries now share information through telephone, faxes and letters but this type of information-sharing is time consuming because files need to be checked first before an answer is given, the report said.

"Through computerization, this can be done with greater efficiency as the database can be accessed immediately," Daniel Teo, deputy director of the Singapore police intelligence department, told the Sunday Times.

"As the system is automated, searches can be carried out even after office hours, without requiring the presence of officers in the other country," Teo said

Sharing of information under the new project would cover profiles of criminals or crime syndicates, suspects' photographs and fingerprints, their offenses and methods of operation.

It can also help track the movement of vehicles belonging to criminals, and trace stolen properties and even missing persons in those countries, the report said.

The computerized information system is to be showcased at an ASEAN police chiefs conference in Kuala Lumpur at the end of this month, the report said, adding that the link-up even allowed "wanted-person" alerts to be sent via electronic mail.

In future, such e-mail alerts could be channeled directly to computers at immigration checkpoints of the six countries to stop criminals trying to enter another country, the report said.