Kazakhstan Makes a Step Towards Smart Change in the Border Security Sector

The Border Service of Kazakhstan is a department of the National Security Committee, which protects and guards the State Border of Kazakhstan on land, in territorial waters (sea) and internal waters in order to ensure the integrity and inviolability of the State borders, maintaining law and order in the border space.

Regula has been supplying hardware and software solutions to the Border Service of Kazakhstan since 2000 to make the travel experience faster and more secure. Kazakhstan was the first country which implemented Regula readers throughout the whole chain of border crossing checkpoints and it was the first country which tried Regula face matching module in action. And this time Kazakhstan trusted us to solve its issue.

Challenge

Being surrounded by five countries and the Caspian sea, Kazakhstan has different types of international border crossing checkpoints—land border checkpoints, airports, and seaports. In total, there are 101 checkpoints along the border perimeter. Equipping them with cutting-edge forensic devices and trained personnel is a huge task that requires constant funding and significant human resources.

The conventional system of passport control consists of two steps: first-line and second-line document verification. First-line verification requires automated document checks with document readers, while second-line checks are extended up to the inclusion of forensic experts (highly educated personnel) and specialized equipment.

In a large number of cases, there is an unequal distribution of resources between so-called major and minor crossing checkpoints. Major checkpoints face high traffic volumes, and they have unquestioned access to priority resources. Minor checkpoints, on the contrary, usually feel a lack of staff and equipment.

Solution

To help our clients solve these problems caused by a lack of forensic equipment for in-depth document checks and lack of experienced document experts, Regula designed and developed a full system of remote border control, with the high-resolution photospectral scanner Regula 8880 at its core.

The concept of the Regula remote border control system is simple. A border control officer who verifies documents sometimes may have doubts about the authenticity of this or that document. In such cases, all they need to do is capture sharp images of the document with the High-Resolution Photospectral Scanner Regula 8880.

With a single button press, Regula 8880 captures images in white, ultraviolet, and infrared light sources, and saves the image capture parameters. Then all these data and images are transferred to a forensic expert, wherever the Central Laboratory is located. There, the forensic expert will decide whether a particular document is genuine or not by examining the digitized document. They also have the ability to zoom in on various areas of the document during the examination.

Impeccable Image Quality

Regula 8880 is equipped with a 187 MP camera that captures every tiny detail in various light sources at 3400 ppi resolution. For a reference, even at 300 ppi, an image will appear sharp and crisp. This is considered to be high resolution for printing, but if the need arises to examine zoomed document images, it is necessary to capture images with a much higher ppi. Importantly, the device also stores the image capture parameters and the RFID data.

This system of document authenticity verification also helps to improve the security of border crossing checkpoints. Revealed counterfeits or rare documents can be digitized and added to the document database—the Regula Information Reference System—for further use.

Result

Last year, Regula document experts conducted training on the Regula 8880 for 15 experts from the Kazakhstan Border Service. To date, Regula has implemented a remote border control system at five border checkpoints in Kazakhstan: the international airports of Astana, Almaty and Aktau, as well as road checkpoints on the border with Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan.

The remote border control system by Regula facilitates second-line document authenticity verification and contributes to the efficient allocation of high-level forensic expert resources. It also enhances the overall security of border crossings. In the near future, we are planning to build up a whole chain of border checkpoints that can perform this type of document verification. We are pleased to have been the first ones to challenge themselves to try out such a smart change in the border security sector.

—A representative of the Border Service of Kazakhstan