Posted on 09/25/2004 1:22:41 PM PDT by JackelopeBreeder
NACO, Ariz. - More technology - $3.5 million worth - is being added to the arsenal at the U.S. Border Patrol's Naco Station to help stem the flow of illegal immigrants and drug traffic from entering the United States.
The schedule calls for nine new towers, each with two cameras, to be in place to supplement eight of the remote video surveillance systems already operating.
So far, seven of the new 60-foot to 80-foot-tall structures are in place. One of the devices will act as a camera platform and microwave relay system to connect towers west of the agency's Naco Station.
Naco Station agents are responsible for nearly 30 miles of the border that goes from approximately Paul Spur Road, east of the station, to Montezuma Pass in the Coronado National Memorial.
More than doubling the current capability - eight towers and 16 cameras to 17 towers and 34 cameras - will give agents at the station more real-time video coverage to allow them to focus forces to counter illegal activities, J.L. Garza and Joe Urena said.
Garza, the station spokesman, said there were 19 agents and little in sophisticated technology when he arrived for duty in Naco nine years ago.
"We thought getting four or five (illegal immigrants) per agent was good then," Garza said.
Now hundreds of illegal immigrants are taken into custody, and the possibility the apprehension rate will increase is based on technology being added to help the manpower, which now exceeds 350 agents at the station, he said Friday.
Urena, the station's infrastructure supervisor, said the 34 cameras that will be part of the remote video surveillance system "is a force multiplier."
Having a multiplier where a few agents can monitor video screens allows agents on the ground to be more proactive as events happen, he said.
He estimated that half of the illegal immigrants taken into custody by station agents are assisted by the existing remote video surveillance systems.
Right now the station is crowded, a small room just large enough for two people to monitor screens that receive video feeds from the older towers that were put up in 2001 and 2002.
Part of the multimillion-dollar project includes new modular building that will have space for four people to monitor the 34 camera feeds.
Tony Kapsanis, the civilian project manger for L3 GSI, a Virginia firm that has the contract, said the newer cameras have longer range capability being able to pick up motion as far away as 4.5 miles and confirming if it is human traffic two miles away.
The systems operate in low-level light in the day, if, for example, the sky is overcast, and use thermal heat detection capability at night.
The cameras could eventually be hooked to ground sensors, which would allow the operators to pan a camera to spot illegal activities if movement is sensed in an area, Kapsanis said, adding that will have to be part of another contract.
Some of the new towers are being put up on private land, with permission of ranchers. Other towers are going up on government land. All the parcels being used had to first be vetted through federal environmental procedures. Power to the towers will include direct electricity, solar panels or propane generated capability.
Just because new technology is being added does not mean other systems like the Sky Boxes, in which an agent is placed to monitor an area, or mobile camera systems will be discarded.
Urena said all the capabilities provide increased abilities and will complement each other.
In some cases, a mobile camera operator will have to head for an area because the tower cameras may lose sight of illegal activities because of the terrain, he said.
A mobile camera operator can go to an area and pick up the traffic, which then is used to bring in the ground agents to apprehend illegal immigrants or drug smugglers, Urena said.
Technology will increase Border Patrol agents' productivity, he said.
With its bank of video screens, the new command center will allow those who perform duties as law enforcement communication assistants - and a couple of them are members of the Arizona Army National Guard - to provide critical information to field agents sooner and, more importantly, where the traffic is happening, Urena said.
"The more technology we have the better," he said.
Ping!
Nice start, but we still need more agents on the ground. Cameras don not climb down off of towers and nab people.
How many agents on the ground do you need? Will you ever be happy? Or regardless or how much taxpayer money we pay to protect union jobs will you always claim that Bush isn't doing anything?
Quick, rush out and purchase more 'cosmetic' stocks.
For all the supposed border enhancements we have seen, the flow has doubled or tripled as a result.
This government has not, is not and will not take serious preventative measures to stop illegal immigration. Further, it still allows people from terrorist states to enter.
While I support Bush with his Iraq policy, there are other policies of his that I find distrubing in the extreme.
The Aztlan Underground, we don't want your stinkin' bills, we just want your goods and services.
This message has been reviewed and approved by Bevis and Butthead.
Thanks bayourod. We can always count on you...
Wait a minute - I wonder if Asa knows about this
May we then ask how many illegals does it take to run your business?
Now when they put remotely operated miniguns on the towers, perhaps they'll make a dent.
350 agents for thirty miles equals more than eleven agents per mile. Compare that to the Canadian border that has one agent per each five miles.
But you still say you'll never vote for President Bush. I guess the Republicans should just give up on ever getting the Buchanan/Tancredo type's votes.
A couple years ago I drove from LA to Las Cruces, meandering along the way for several days, and went over the border at Naco just to see what it was like on the other side [it was very rundown and depressed]. There was no border control agent at all checking people coming from the American side entering Mexico. Not a big deal except that any criminal on the run could easily escape.
You forget it's a 24/7 job so only about 80 at best are on duty at any one time -- and only 50 are actively patrolling at very best. The rest are doing admin and maintenance crap.
The sector is only 34 miles of border, but it's also 30 miles deep with a lot of rough terrain. That's 50 agents trying to cover about 1000 square miles. And at any given moment there are a couple of thousand illegal aliens loose in that area doing things that us locals really don't like at all.
Naco has changed a bit -- it's still small and rundown, but it is now a major staging area for drug and alien smuggling and has become quite violent. Same for Agua Prieta just south of Douglas.
The Mexican government makes no attempt to control this part of their country. There are a few Mexican Army units here, but they're owned by the smuggler cartels.
If Naco is anything like my station not all agents are deployed on the line. I would guess that only a third of those 350 are actively patrolling the border. The rest are doing things like public information, working in the garage..etc.
Hey bayourod, what time is your next La Raza meeting scheduled for?
Very interesting. Thanks for the update.
I know it's an observation that's been made many times before but when I went over the border at Naco I was so struck by the contrast. Same terrain, same desert on both sides. But the US side, if not wealthy, was decent, whereas the Mexian side was deeply depressed. The difference? Freedom and the free market.
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