Border Technology Has Glitches
The White House is hoping aerial drones, seismic sensors, and infrared cameras, as well as the National Guard, will better protect the U.S.-Mexican border, but the new technology has not received the best response from border agents. Last April, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency’s aerial surveillance drone was destroyed in a crash in Arizona for reasons that are not yet known.
There are more than 6,700 motion sensors along the southern border from Texas to California designed to alert illegal entry, but animals often set them off.
One of the problems with implementing technology near the border is finding enough people to monitor it. It can sometimes take border agents hours to reach a site where illegal immigrants are located after a seismic motion sensors goes off.
“Technology is tremendously important in that it can be a force multiplier if you already have a force out there,” says Chris Aldridge at the Border Research and Technology Center. “But you have to have the resources to respond.”
This is part of the reason President Bush has proposed sending as many as 6,000 National Guard troops to backup Border Patrol officers and assist in monitoring high-tech equipment.
Abstracted by the National Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Center(NLECTC) from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (05/17/06) P. 3A; Keefe, Bob .
