Thread: Border cameras lack cash, stay off

Border cameras lack cash, stay off
By Brandi Grissom / Austin Bureau
Article Launched: 04/21/2007 12:00:00 AM MDT


AUSTIN -- It will be at least an additional six months before cameras on the Texas border will again broadcast over the Internet live footage of undocumented immigrants crossing into the United States, officials said this week.
The Texas Department of Public Safety sought permission months ago to spend federal grant money to get the cameras online.

But because approval for that money did not come until March, said Katherine Cesinger, a spokeswoman for Gov. Rick Perry, the department must wait for lawmakers to OK the cash to purchase the cameras.

"We've been ready to go with this and are eager to get these back up and running," Cesinger said.

El Paso County Sheriff's Office spokesman Rick Glancey said local officers and county residents who live on the border are also eager for the camera program to resume.

"Everything we can do to show them something is being done is important to us," Glancey said.

Perry announced he would invest $5 million on an Internet-based "neighborhood watch" program for the border last June.

Hundreds


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Advertisement

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
of cameras, he said, would be installed on private land along the border to create a "virtual border watch" program.
"We will post this video on the Internet -- in real time -- so that concerned Americans can help protect our nation," Perry said last summer.

After months of starts and stops, the site went public for a 27-day test run in November. Eight to 12 cameras along Texas' 1,200-mile border with Mexico broadcast footage from four counties -- El Paso, Val Verde, Hidalgo and Cameron.

The test cost about $200,000.

State documents the El Paso Times obtained earlier this year showed millions of viewers checked out the site.

They sent thousands of e-mails reporting the likes of a spider on the lens of one camera, technical problems and suspicious activity.

During the test, viewer e-mails resulted in the arrests of 10 of the more than 12,000 undocumented immigrants federal agents caught in Texas that month.

The e-mails also led to one drug bust and the interruption of one smuggling route, according to state reports.

In January, Texas Homeland Security Director Steve McCraw declared the cameras a success despite the low number of apprehensions.

The test, he said then, was meant to assess the technological capabilities, which worked well.

Glancey said the program benefited law enforcement in El Paso and property owners who volunteered to have cameras on their land.

Usually, Glancey said, criminals are gone by the time officers arrive to check out a crime reported in rural areas of the county. The cameras were evidence of incidents residents reported on their land.

"It provided them an opportunity to say, 'This is what I'm talking about,' " Glancey said.

Since the test, the cameras and the border watch Web site have been shut down. State officials have been awaiting money to buy more cameras and continuously operate the border watch Web site.

In January, the Texas Department of Public Safety requested permission to spend money on the needed equipment.

The Legislative Budget Board, though, did not approve the spending until late March.

By that time, Cesinger said, homeland security officials had already spent the federal grant money they had planned to use for the cameras.

She said the grants were going to expire if they were not used, so the money was spent on border security operations, helping to pay for overtime for intensive police operations.

"At this point, we have to wait for the budget to be approved" to get the cameras going again, Cesinger said.

Money for the cameras is in the House and Senate versions of the two-year state budget.

The House proposal would pay for the cameras out of $100 million set aside for Perry's border security efforts.

State Sen. Tommy Williams, R-The Woodlands, said the Senate budget would allow the governor's office to use federal grants to operate the cameras.

If money for the cameras remains in the budget, state officials wouldn't be able to spend those dollars until the next fiscal year, which will begin Sept. 1.

Then, they must go through a monthlong bidding process to choose a company to provide the cameras and the Internet technology.

"We don't have a target date" to get the cameras up and running again, Cesinger said, "just because it is kind of at the mercy of the process."

Not all lawmakers are convinced that cameras are an effective tool in helping secure the border.

State Rep. Norma Chávez, D-El Paso, said border security efforts should focus on stopping drug cartels from infiltrating Texas.

"The cost (for the cameras) was pretty high for the results" the November test produced, she said, "and my question is, is this best way to spend resources?"

Brandi Grissom may be reached at bgrissom@elpasotimes.com; (512) 479-6606.

http://origin.elpasotimes.com/news/ci_5718716

During the test, viewer e-mails resulted in the arrests of 10 of the more than 12,000 undocumented immigrants federal agents caught in Texas that month.

If they only catch 1 out of 5, that means 48,000 slip through each month. That is over one-half million per year, just for Texas. Figure in Arizona, California and New Mexico. Throw in the Canadian border for good measure. The total number of illegal aliens per year is staggering. But what's of importance to me is our government tells us there are 12 million illegal aliens in America. The TRUE number HAS to be between 40 and 50 MILLION.

This is the same thing that will eventually happen to our so-called virtual fence - the money will dry up. I say build a "real" fence now, because like Duncan Hunter says, "it's the law." 700+ miles of fencing have been approved by Congress - let's build it.