The Malta Police’s Passenger Names Record (PNR)/Advance Passenger Information System (APIS) implements best practices for the Passenger Information Unit.
The PNR/APIS analysis system utilizes IBM Analytics and Indicator of Risk (AIR) which combines the results of relationship resolution, rules based targeting and external security system checks to alert the PIU when passenger data indicates that a person of interest is planning to travel to Malta.
AIR analyses a standard, timely and error free, flow of passenger data in advance of their arrival in Malta through the implementation of a passenger data hub, using the IBM Passenger Data Collector (PDC) to insulate the analysis process from complexity of airline messaging systems. PDC provides the airlines with a range of methods and standards to send data to the Malta Police and automatically performs data quality checks and timeliness checks.
The concept of a data gateway to separate security checks from data processing and a secure analysis unit, isolated from the ever changing world of carrier data, represents the state of the art in PIU design.
The implementation rollout was carried out by the Malta Police together with PTL Ltd as their contractor in the span of 8 months. In implementing it today, the Malta Police has a system that is ahead of many other countries, and puts it on a stable basis to react to future changes.
The PNR is an EU funded project.