Thread: One step ahead

One step ahead
Pinal deputies find themselves playing catchup with elusive human, drug smugglers




Joe Meahl, Staff Writer June 09, 2008



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Cpl. David Hailey looks into an abandoned and stolen pickup truck left near Table Top Mountain west of Casa Grande. The truck had been covered with a camouflage tarp. Extra tires were kept on its roof. Evidence found in the truck suggests it was used to transport illegal drugs from Mexico to the U.S.
'They spotted us," Cpl. David Hailey said, listening to an encrypted transmission on a portable radio while on patrol in southern Pinal County.


A Pinal County Sheriff's Office deputy, Hailey explained that a spotter hidden near the top of a nearby hill had seen his truck and was warning drug smugglers to avoid the area where he was patrolling. He believes that spotters, working for drug smugglers, may be at the same hideaway for months. Because spotters are so well hidden, they are rarely caught.

Hailey said deputies have no encrypted radios and smugglers can easily buy a police scanner and listen to them.

"We need a secure channel. The bad guys can hear us but we can't hear them. Our only secure means of communication is a cell phone, but sometimes there is no coverage (in remote areas)," he said.

Most of the action is at night, when low-tech human smugglers simply crash through the desert or desert roads while high-tech drug smugglers are more slippery with radio repeaters hidden in the hills using solar panels for power, behind camouflage.

It is not unusual for smugglers to use extensive camouflage on trucks and SUVs with Velcro, so parts of the tarp, such as that covering headlights, can be taken off.

"The camouflage is specially made for trucks. It fits like a glove," he said. Smugglers also spray-paint windows or wheels black to cut down on reflections. Often smugglers have a cutoff switch that turns their brake lights off or on.

"These switches are used a lot. We can't find them (with no brake lights)," Hailey said.

Most trucks or SUVs are stolen because the government can seize vehicles used in certain crimes. Most stolen vehicles have "cold" plates, meaning they have been stolen recently and the theft has not been reported yet.

Hailey explained he is part of one shift that covers a region from Maricopa to Red Rock. Most of the time he is kept busy with calls for service from residents and other duties. But there are a few quiet times when Hailey is able to drive through the desert in the general area of Table Top Mountain.

"We don't often look for them (smugglers), but sometimes we fall right on them. I usually work with another deputy and sometimes we get lucky. We don't catch but a small fraction of the drug smugglers," he said, noting how dangerous it is for a lone deputy searching for well-armed drug smugglers.

One of the clues smugglers leave behind is fresh tire tracks. Sometimes Hailey finds trucks parked 150 to 200 yards from a dirt road and covered with brush or a tarp.

Sometimes when a vehicle breaks down, the smugglers can call for help and get a ride from another vehicle. The object of all smugglers is to get across the desert any way possible. Illegal immigrants can get into life-threatening situations, especially during the summer heat, and may call for law enforcement help. Immigrants can be victims of crime, but they don't often report it.

Hailey, who has worked for the office seven years and has a total of 15 years of law enforcement experience, finds lots of stolen trucks and SUVs, usually run until they are worn out. Recently, Hailey came across a power pole that had been sheared off by a smuggler who did not care about the vehicle that was being driven. "It just kept on going."

The office has a pretty strict policy of not chasing smugglers. The policy changed a couple of years ago after several incidents.

"When 40 people are in the bed of a truck and the driver is driving crazy with no lights, people might fall out (of the truck bed) or the truck might wreck," he said. It is not uncommon for "load" vehicles to crash, throwing humans onto the roadway or median, resulting in multiple deaths.

A few years ago, human smugglers would drive on desert roads, and if approached by law enforcement, the driver would stop and illegal immigrants and coyotes, or smugglers, would run into the desert.

Today, human smugglers race wildly across the desert with no lights at high speeds. Sometimes they will put a large group of people, sometimes numbering in the 40s, in the bed of a truck and run a rope around all of them so more can be squeezed in.

"They have to hang onto the rope. The first time I saw that I was blown away," Hailey said, noting how dangerous that practice is.

Finding signs of smugglers is not difficult, starting with heavily used dirt roads in poor condition.

"The environmental damage is unbelievable. Smugglers tear up the desert (driving off road) and throw trash everywhere," Hailey said.

He said he has never seen a weapon on smugglers he has dealt with, but it is known that some smugglers carry assault rifles. There are occasional reports of smugglers firing at Border Patrol agents.

Farmers get frustrated with smugglers driving through their fields so some of them dig large ditches along the edges to stop them from destroying crops.

Hailey and other law enforcement personnel in the area form a loose intelligence network to try to curb illegal activities.

"We try to keep a pulse on these guys (smugglers)," Hailey said.

Editor's note

Reporter Joe Meahl recently rode with a Pinal County Sheriff's Office deputy as he showed how sophisticated and pervasive smuggling humans and drugs are in southern and central Arizona.



©Casa Grande Valley Newspapers Inc. 2008
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The environmental damage is unbelievable. Smugglers tear up the desert (driving off road) and throw trash everywhere," Hailey said.

Yet you will never hear anything from the enviromental movement. They are too busy making sure nobody drills for oil or builds a bonfire, since that causes global warming. This is sure proof they don't care about the enviroment, but have another agenda. Maybe we should send these quotes to the Sierra Club!? Since the enviromentalists seem to have Congress by the nether regions, if they jumped on illegal immigration, it would stop tomorrow.

A Pinal County Sheriff's Office deputy, Hailey explained that a spotter hidden near the top of a nearby hill had seen his truck and was warning drug smugglers to avoid the area where he was patrolling. He believes that spotters, working for drug smugglers, may be at the same hideaway for months. Because spotters are so well hidden, they are rarely caught.

Hailey said deputies have no encrypted radios and smugglers can easily buy a police scanner and listen to them.

"We need a secure channel. The bad guys can hear us but we can't hear them. Our only secure means of communication is a cell phone, but sometimes there is no coverage (in remote areas)," he said.

Why can't planes detecting body heat, radio signals, etc. be used to find the spotters since that equipment is used for rescues?
If the spotters are at a hideaway for months they cook and need supplies and water.
What is the source of electricity for the spotter to recharge his radioes, cell phones, police scanners, etc. with? Bet spotters even have computers. They have to be alerted when a smuggling operation is happening and know the route.

Part of the Merida Initiative included giving the Mexican army encryptment technology and equipment.
Why should the Mexican army be funded better equipment than our own border patrol and law enforcement in border states?
They should have encrypted radioes and satellite cell phones.