New Border Patrol Station At Campo, CA.

$28 million complex built on 33-acre site

By Mark Arner
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

September 27, 2008

CAMPO – A Border Patrol station in rural East County that had been a collection of trailers has been replaced with a multimillion-dollar complex that includes a main office, jail and maintenance garage.

The 60,000-square-foot complex took nearly three years – and slightly more than $28 million – to build on 33 acres just south of Old Highway 80. It is the federal agency's third permanent facility in East County. The other two are in El Cajon and Boulevard.

The new complex can accommodate up to 350 Border Patrol agents; provide workstations for other law enforcement or firefighting agencies if needed; and house up to 265 prisoners at its air-conditioned and video-monitored detention center, said Supervisory Border Patrol Agent Richard Marzec.

The station, which opened in mid-August, is in La Posta, roughly nine miles north of Campo. It replaces several trailers near the Campo Post Office that the agency had used as an office for more than a decade.

The complex features a 45,000-square-foot main station and detention center, and a 15,000 square-foot maintenance facility with vehicle lifts, all the tools needed to repair the agency's fleet of SUVs and Jeeps, and swamp coolers to help workers cope with the triple-digit temperatures that regularly roast this rugged, mountainous section of the county.

The complex also has a 150,000-gallon tank of treated water that it fills from a 500-foot-deep well on the property; a 30,000-gallon propane tank; a modern septic system; and a diesel-powered electrical generator.

A huge concrete slab in the rear could be used as a helipad, Marzec said.

Supervisory Border Patrol Agent Richard Marzec walked through the new station's air-conditioned and video-monitored detention center. It can house up to 265 prisoners.

“This is designed to be a stand-alone complex, if needed,â€