Border blitz cut El Paso crime 30%, Perry says
By Brandi Grissom / Austin Bureau
Article Launched: 04/25/2007 12:00:00 AM MDT


AUSTIN -- Gov. Rick Perry announced Tuesday that a recent border security operation in El Paso County reduced crime by 30 percent.
"More boots on the ground, working together as a team, increases our safety and border security," Perry said.

The intensive patrol effort, called Operation Wrangler 3, lasted from March 15 to April 15, and involved local, state and federal law enforcement agencies.

Wrangler is an ongoing security initiative from Perry that involves sporadic law enforcement patrol surges meant to target border-related crime.

Perry said crime dropped 30 percent during the one month of Wrangler 3 compared with the number of crimes reported during the 2å-month period before the operation began. Although the governor's office did not provide a breakdown of all crimes, it said assaults and robberies in El Paso went down dramatically.

Agencies that participated in the operation would be reimbursed through federal grants for about $700,000 in equipment, vehicles and officer overtime for the patrols, said Katherine Cesinger,

a spokeswoman for Perry.
El Paso County Sheriff's Office spokesman Rick Glancey said air support from Texas Department of Public Safety helicopters was especially helpful during the operation.

Air patrols, he said, helped in a high-speed car chase and in finding a lost woman.

"The proof is in the pudding when a resident tells you, 'I feel much more comfortable and safer when you're out there,' " Glancey said.

El Paso Deputy Police Chief Eric Shelton said the operation allowed more communication between agencies about crime in the area, allowing for more cooperation. He said, however, that the Police Department measured an overall crime reduction of about 2 percent during the monthlong operation. He said crime rates should be compared using similar periods.

"It would not make any sense to compare a 30-day period to a 45-day period," he said.

The governor's office late Tuesday was unable to explain the different time periods used to compare the crime rates.

Operation Wrangler is part of Perry's border security efforts, which started in 2005. Lawmakers are considering Perry's request for $100 million to continue and expand the operations.

Initially, the border security efforts in El Paso created widespread fear in immigrant communities after Samaniego's deputies set up checkpoints and allegedly asked for drivers' immigration papers.

Though Samaniego has consistently said his officers did not enforce immigration laws, immigrant rights and civil rights activists in El Paso said fear remained among both documented and undocumented immigrants.

Briana Stone, director of the Paso Del Norte Civil Rights Project, said she heard reports about officers asking for immigration papers and parking outside facilities immigrants frequent.

"There's this sort of cloud of fear hanging over them right now," Stone said.

Instead of crime dropping, as Perry touted, Stone said it was more likely that crimes were simply going unreported. Immigrants, whether documented or not, won't report crimes if they're afraid officers will deport them or their family members, she said.

http://www.elpasotimes.com/news/ci_5743811