The policing, transnational crime and techno-securitisation nexus at the O.R Tambo International Airport : dynamics and challenges

Abstract

This study interrogates the policing of borders, borderlines and entry ports, with specific reference to the use of technologies in combating transnational crime at South Africa’s largest international airport. This is why the study poses the question: What are the dynamics and challenges relating to the interfaces in police work, transnational crime and the use of technologies at the O.R Tambo International Airport (ORTIA)? The aim in the research was thus to explore the dynamics and challenges relating to the policing, transnational crime and techno-securitisation nexus at the ORTIA. This aim was operationalised through the following research objectives: (1) to describe the dimensions of policing at international airports, with specific contextualisation to the ORTIA; (2) to theorise the policing, transnational crime and techno-securitisation nexus; (3) to uncover the factors that hinder the operational efficiency of the police at ORTIA and to develop a conceptual framework for police efficiency, as well as; (4) making recommendations to the management of the SAPS, on how to enhance the police’s operational efficiency, in the fight against transnational crime at borders, borderlines and entry ports that include airports. The research espoused a qualitative approach and drew data from experts in border policing, SAPS border police managers and staff working at the ORTIA. Purposive and quota sampling techniques were used to draw the research participants. Data in the study was collected using semi-structured (primary), literature (secondary), and observations (tertiary) techniques that are aligned to the anti-positivist school of thought and thus with qualitative research. The research findings show that policing at international airports and at the ORTIA, is a complex exercise that consist in multiple securitisation actors who are regulated by protocols in the aviation sector, including legislation and policies in the international, continental, regional and local spheres; that the scope of border policing is huge and cannot pragmatically be fulfilled by an already stretched SAPS alone; that technology, other physical resources, and training, including systematic/scientific approaches to policing are critical in the fight against transnational; and that the newly introduced (in 2023) single border management agency the BMA, is yet to show its worth. In the recommendations, the study conceptualises a policing philosophy that is aligned to the contemporary industrial revolution (post-modern policing), transformative and epistemologically inclusive (ethno-sensitive), thus making obsolete, the more than 195 years old (as at 2024) Peelian western-centric colonial maxims in the philosophy called Modern Policing; conceptualises the interplay (nexus) in policing, transnational crime and technology; develops a thesis whose theorems enable an understanding of the interplay, and together with the taxonomy postulated in the study, also operationalises the nexus and foster research on the use of crime combating technologies. The research also highlights specific challenges that hinder the operational efficiency of the police at the ORTIA and makes recommendations that not only talk to the identified challenges but to cooperation among various security stakeholders. The research highlights prospects for policing in the Fourth Industrial Revolution, prospects that include the use of robotics, 5G technology, artificial intelligence, and smart software that enable crime combating technologies to perform multiple functions with heightened accuracy and expeditiously, thus making police operations to be efficient. Likewise, the research also makes generic proposals, and further proposes a framework to help the police improve on operational efficiency. Finally, the research identifies several areas of interest that require future research.