Marine incidents involving force or other coercion vary in nature, location and cause, but always reignite debate on global measures. Is a worldwide maritime police force possible and desirable?
As a seafarer I have of course spent a fair share of my time on the seas. While on board I like to tune in to global news because it makes me feel connected, so I am well aware of recent maritime incidents, such as the attacks by the Houthi rebels on merchant ships transiting the Red Sea and the various attempts of the pirates in West Africa. But these crimes are just the tip of the iceberg. They are well known because of wide media coverage, but there are many others that do not get the same notice, or the attention that they should.
Among those are modern-day slavery or forced labour, drug smuggling, illegal fishing, wildlife smuggling, human trafficking, terrorism and murder. Most of these happen out of sight of any authorities. The oceans cover nearly two thirds of the planet’s surface and there are many thousands of vessels all over the world and we only have very minimal visibility as to the activities of each one. This is exploited by criminals because it provides the perfect cover for their illicit operations.
So, is a worldwide maritime police force necessary? Is it possible and desirable? Well, I don’t think so, and I have something very different in mind.
Every country with a coastline has its own coast guard and navy, and I think it is an insult if there is a foreign authority coming into their maritime domain and conducting investigations within their waters. In the case of West Africa, the Red Sea and Somalia, which are being variously hounded by pirates, rebels and proxies, a force is certainly necessary but we don’t need to create a worldwide maritime police force. Since the early 2000s the allied countries of the US, the UK and France, and also I think Russia, have been patrolling these areas. These countries have powerful naval ships and advanced weaponry but the problems still persist, albeit with significantly reduced incidents over the years, as warships stationed there serve as a deterrent.
So, if these navies cannot stop the problems totally, what good would a maritime police force do? Let the allied forces deal with them. They will not abandon these areas, because they have their own interests to protect.
More generally as regards crime that is a lot less visible but a lot more prevalent, we have been looking for solutions for decades now and the approach still tends to be one-size-fits-all – send more boats to sea to stop the flow of migration, close down the border, build walls to reduce drug trafficking, station armed guards on vessels to fight pirates – but the problems persist. Just for example, current efforts like random patrolling or the use of human intelligence do little to stop the flood of narcotics.
I think the key issue is that we still use outdated policing techniques and basic enforcement models, while criminals are using far more advanced methods. They are adept at using technology to always be ahead. Some drug cartels that I have seen described in documentaries use submarines to provide logistical support to drug traffickers, people-smuggling gangs use satellite phones to communicate their whereabouts to their clients, and pirates use satellite systems to detect vessels, chase them down and capture them for ransom.
Intercepting these activities, and any related vessels in transit and before they reach our shores, would greatly help to curtail these unlawful operations, and in order to do that we need to transition from reactive to proactive enforcement.
There should be created an AI-powered tool that would aggregate criminal records for vessels, owners and operators and strategize enforcement based on that intelligence, and we should also create a team of people that would run and manage this program, much like an FBI or an Interpol but whose sole purpose is to fight marine-based crime. Such a program should also investigate crimes online using all available databases, ranging from simple press releases by coast guards to Interpol notices, and rapidly work out who is involved and identify their locations, routes and networks. The material collected would be shared with any relevant country so they could apprehend the crooks.
To build this structure, we should consult and partner with the major worldwide law enforcement agencies and also IT experts. The whole idea is to adapt and very much amplify what is presently only a “vessel of concern” approach, such that we can see long in advance, and with full information, when a potentially or likely criminal vessel is entering our waters, or when a shady company wants to do business with us, much like profiling a known undesirable person or knowing when a dangerous and repeat sex offender is back in town.
Such an AI program should give us the ability to quite literally map high-risk ships even when they look innocent on the surface, and in order to meaningfully detect and combat maritime crime, human creativity and technological progress must go hand in hand.
Andrew C. Somera, AB, NORD VOLANTE
