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Border Patrol has new Inland headquarters

08:44 AM PDT on Saturday, July 29, 2006

By NATHAN MAX
The Press-Enterprise

MURRIETA - Monday would have been the silver anniversary of the Temecula Border Patrol station's grand opening. But the facility will fall two days short of reaching that milestone.

Today, operations begin taking place out of a new, $14 million Border Patrol station in Murrieta, which will replace the 25-year-old Temecula station.

Friday morning, agents and dignitaries celebrated the new facility with a ribbon-cutting ceremony, bagpipe band and tours of the 31,000-square-foot building.

The station, on 10 fenced acres of land in the 25700 block of Madison Avenue, will be the base for operations that stretch from northern San Diego County to southern San Bernardino County.

"We're thrilled," said Patrol Agent in Charge Rick Salinetti. "We've got the facilities now to do the job that we need to do and support the technology that the other station could not support."

The station is equipped with special-operations offices that enable Border Patrol agents to network with other federal, state and local agencies. And in case of a national emergency, it is capable of becoming a Department of Homeland Security emergency operations center, Salinetti said.

"It expands the law enforcement capability in the city of Murrieta, as well as the region," Murrieta police Capt. Steve Porter said. "We have enjoyed a close and terrific working relationship with the Border Patrol since the Murrieta Police Department has been in existence, and we look forward to continuing that relationship now that they're here in our backyard. The facility itself is a work of art, very secure and very functional."

About 130 agents will be working at the Murrieta station when it opens. It has capacity to expand to 250 agents, Salinetti said.

The station also boasts a detention and processing facility. From July 2005 to July 2006, the former Temecula station processed about 1,300 criminals that it took in from other agencies, Salinetti said. The old facility, which opened July 31, 1981, was ill-equipped to handle that load, he added.

"I think we're going to be a lot more efficient in what we do because we've combined all administrative and enforcement functions into one facility," Salinetti said. "At the prior facility, we had to operate out of three separate buildings, none of which were right next to each other."

Reach Nathan Max 951-375-3736 or nmax@PE.com