There is a general lack of advanced technological mechanisms and resources at the disposal of practitioners, which would be vital in order to improve efficiency in preventive security measures. For example, there is a perceived need for sophisticated border crossing preventive mechanisms such as state-of-the-art detectors and radars. Also, depending on the type of landscape, early detection can be more effective. Therefore, in such areas it would be beneficial to use new technology such as advanced video analytics. Additionally, it is necessary to improve current capabilities related to the detection of falsified (fraudulent) documents. Likewise, practitioners should be equipped with the appropriate tools and training to also detect falsified documents which are often provided by migrants.

Undeniably, in order to be able to use such new technology, the current regulatory framework must be amended to encompass the adoption of new technological solutions.

The new FRONTEX regulation[1] is now being defined and implemented. FRONTEX and Member States work together to develop capability roadmaps and capability planning and to look for and implement specific technologies and solutions to replace or complement the general ones that are now in place. In this context, it is necessary to take into account for future actions the new technologies that will emerge in the next few years, new network environments, encryption systems, and advanced communications in the digital world. It is critical to tackle the gap of interoperability, through finding common ground and building systems, solutions, and networks so that they can interact in a common language.

[1] Frontex Programming Document 2020-2022 https://data.consilium.europa.eu/doc/document/ST-14362-2019-INIT/en/pdf