The rural areas of Cochise County East and Northeast of Douglas are not well patrolled by Border Patrol. Rob Krentz was murdered in the area between the Chiricahua Mountains and the New Mexico line and that is the area they were referring to. I doubt they know that the areas around Sierra Vista are patrolled as well as you saw.
I was within 5 miles of where Rob Krentz was murdered about 2 weeks before it happened, did not see a Border Patrol at all in the nearly 30 miles I traveled after crossing into Arizona from New Mexico. I was back to the same location about 2 weeks after Rob Krentz was murdered and Border Patrol were all over the state highway but as soon as we left the highway there were no more Border Patrol. None were within 10 miles of where he was actually murdered. That is the frustration of the ranchers in that area. Border Patrol has a horse patrol camp in that area, but is not permanent. When they did build a permanent Border Patrol operation facility “in that area” it was built 15-20 miles from where Rob Krentz was murdered.
There is an immense amount of frustration when the government chooses not to deal with the real hot spots, which is what happens all along the border. Where I live in NM is not considered a major hot spot normally and we have quite a lot of Border Patrol activity in this area. The puzzling thing is it seems the more presence an area needs, the less it has.
That has to be frustrating. And I suspect that it isn't just a coincidence.
Did I ever tell you about my conversation with Larry Dever not too long after Rob Krentz' murder? The Lordsburg sector BP station had his prime suspect in custody for three days and didn't act on the BOLO out of Cochise County.