Thread: AZ: Special unit tries to plug drug corridors

TACKLING VIOLENT CRIME: Special unit tries to plug drug corridors

Jaime Richardson | Green Valley News
Burlap sacks are used to carry narcotics through the desert by drug runners, explains Deputy Paul Petropolous of the Pima County Sheriff’s Department.

By Jaime Richardson, Green Valley News
Published: Saturday, February 16, 2008 10:19 PM MST
A few miles west of Green Valley — and just feet from a highly trafficked roadway — lies a patch of desert trashed by drug smugglers and illegal immigrants.

Piles of discarded clothing, backpacks and water jugs, wrapped in brown paper (for camouflage) mar the landscape.

A toddler’s pink sock lies in the dirt near several burlap sacks used to smuggle narcotics.

The scene is a common one in remote areas of the Interstate 19 corridor, said Deputy Paul Petropolous of the Pima County Sheriff’s Department.

“But we’ve been seeing more and more cases like this one, where they’re getting closer to homes and to people,â€

Agents and officers literally can’t communicate with each other due to differing radio technologies, which can be dangerous when both are scouting in the same location.

The issue went before the Pima County Board of Supervisors in January but was pulled from the agenda when the public expressed a generally unfavorable reaction.

Dangerious situtation being on difference frequencies--how many have to die before that changes?

[quote]Detractors said local and federal law enforcement should remain separate and that deputizing federal agents would blur the lines between the duties of each agency.

Coalicion de Derechos Humanos (“The Human Rights Groupâ€