PZ VLAS is a fan of the Gatekeeper platform

“GraydonCreditsafe has been known to the police for some time,” says Commissioner Dirk, who started the Ecofin cell in 2002, “but we only use the company database sporadically to look up information. However, Gatekeeper is a completely new tool and of a completely different order.”

Kristof Alexander, Director Public Sector at GraydonCreditsafe, brought together the chiefs of police of the WVL4 partnership to present the platform. Supported by the Social Security team of the City of Antwerp, which has been testing the platform for two years and helping to build the algorithm.

“I can show you how the platform works and what you can click on,” he says, “but it's much more interesting if people from the field tell you how they work with it. So, the Antwerp representatives really provided an explanation based on several concrete cases.”

“I immediately saw that all information was presented clearly and in one place,” Dirk continues. “A big step forward, because otherwise we would have to bring together various internal and external information sources and then analyse them again. Although I did wonder in the beginning whether I could find what I really needed via the platform. But it is an innovative solution and thanks to the guidance of GraydonCreditsafe you quickly discover that it is very functional. And of course, you save a lot of time.”

“I am therefore extremely satisfied with the platform, although you must be careful who you let operate the buttons. That should be someone with a certain basic knowledge of business information to correctly interpret the data and the scores.”

“The most useful feature? The network, where you can see at the touch of a button with which other companies a business and its board of directors are connected”, Steven is clear. “It is becoming increasingly important to look beyond the individual company. So it is very handy if you have a map of the underlying periphery.”

What the users initially had a hard time with is the fact that GraydonCreditsafe is a private company that provides a solution within the police force. A difficult match.

“We are always careful when we work with private companies,” Steven is honest. “Particularly in terms of data and then within the criminal investigation department. That is sensitive. We must base ourselves on concrete facts and not use all aspects of the platform as evidence. However, a few pieces of information are included in the file. But in terms of ease of use, this is definitely a fantastic tool.”

“Those public-private partnerships are indeed difficult,” admits Kristof. “But as soon as the added value of that collaboration can be demonstrated, a certain amount of confidence grows. There will always be a wall between the two parties. And that is allowed, that is even necessary. But it cannot be the intention for the government, in general, or the police services, in particular, to bring in all the technical knowledge and data sources to build everything themselves. That is not possible. That is why I do believe in public-private partnerships. As long as they are properly framed. For example, our agreement clearly states that the Gatekeeper platform will only be placed within government services that deal with enforcement, in the broadest sense of the word. So those are cities and municipalities, the police and inspection services.”

“In my ideal world, we place the entire infrastructure in a government environment. GraydonCreditsafe provides the underlying software and continues to feed the platform with data, daily, while government services do the same on their part. That combination of public and non-public data is precisely the strength of the entire system. Different inspection services could ultimately link their data to the same platform. For example, the VLAS police zone in Kortrijk can see that the environmental inspection or the social inspection has drawn up one or more reports against company X. To respect the powers, details do not have to be released immediately. A notification is sufficient, so that the user knows which inspection service he can contact to further supplement his file. That's the future. Sharing data and insights will only benefit the functioning of the platform.”

In the meantime, the West Flemish governor has instructed the police forces to keep a close eye on who is settling on the territory. This concerns both newly established companies and companies that come from another district. After all, it is not the first time that a company has moved its registered office when the ground in that other district gets too hot.

“We know that companies with criminal intent have moved from the Brussels city center to the outskirts,” says Steven. “The fear is that those companies will move again when the outskirts of Brussels are also tackled. And where do they end up? In West Flanders or Limburg. And, of course, we want to avoid that.”

“It is not the intention that someone has to close his company in Kortrijk because of irregularities and start again in the district of Veurne,” Joost adds. “Or suppose someone has not been granted a permit for one reason or another. Then other districts should be aware of this. Without immediately talking about a ban. It is only a signal that must indicate that the person concerned is also known outside the zone and that a thorough investigation is required. If there are actual criminal intentions involved, you must avoid that the person concerned takes a chance elsewhere. Fortunately, everyone is thinking in the same direction in that area.”

Dempsey is now also completely convinced of the added value of Gatekeeper.

“The platform is user-friendly. You have all the information together and that means you can speed up. You have to do less preliminary research, which shortens the lead time. The platform is also ideal for imaging. It is not fed by us, but it does tell us which police data to include. That saves us a lot of time. And more time available means more investigations and more chance of prosecution. In addition, the more information we can include in our reports, the easier it will be to convince other parties such as a labour auditor or the mayor.”

“And then finally, as Steven says, the connection with other companies, of course. That network is wonderful. That can be a real spider web and if something is wrong, you can often see it immediately.”