What gets me is we all expect the Border Patrol to- as their name would imply- protect the border; yet no one has their back. Not only do they have a very real fear of prosecution if they make the wrong move, they also have to deal with the real fear of the job. I saw on FOX news this morning that smugglers had rigged a wire along the border designed to catch BP on 4 wheelers at about neck height- which if it worked would likely decapitate them. Not only do they deal with tricks like that- they are at times outgunned and have to worry about politics if confronted by Mexican Military.
Lovely situation- supposedly we are hiring more BP officers; I can’t imagine who would want the job.
Exactly. If I mess up, maybe I get a bad review, maybe I get fired. If they mess up, they've got prosecutors wanting to put them away for life just to make their reputations.
No job pays that well, and BP agents don't actually get paid very well in any case.
So any kid wanting to go into law enforcement, I would never recommend BP as a career. You're just asking to be a notch in some prosecutor's belt, and they aren't going to let you do your job in any case. So why waste your life there?
I always believe that if you're going to send a man into a difficult situation to do a difficult job, you owe it to him to stand behind him, support him, and give him some benefit of doubt when things go wrong. Not a blank check, but some understanding of what he has to go through to do his job should be basic.