State lawmaker criticizes border police chiefs
(7:59 p.m.)
Apr 26, 2007

By Brandi Grissom / El Paso Times
El Paso Times


AUSTIN -- A lawmaker pushing Gov. Rick Perry's border security plan called police chiefs seeking a say on how the program's money should be spent whiners looking for a pot of gold.
"This (money) is specifically to close down the border," state Rep. David Swinford, R-Dumas, said in response to a letter border-area police chiefs sent this week asking for a seat on a council that could make decisions on border security spending. "This isn't a pot of gold for these little towns and their police people."

Swinford is sponsoring legislation that would create a three-person Border Security Council to decide how to spend $100 million Perry has requested to fight border-related crime. The council would include representatives from the governor's office, from border sheriffs and from the Texas Department of Public Safety.

On Monday, police chiefs from 13 South Texas cities sent an open letter asking lawmakers to include police on the council and to eliminate parts of the bill they said would make local officers enforce federal immigration laws.

The concerns the police chiefs outlined mirror ones El Paso Police Chief Richard Wiles has expressed, though he did not sign the letter. Wiles said it wasn't money motivating him but a desire to ensure the safety of urban border communities.

"It's about planning these things out, making sure they're understanding of issues we're facing and making sure we use the money wisely," Wiles said.

Wiles and Uvalde Police Chief Fred Garza, one of the chiefs who signed the letter, said cities are home to most of the border population and deal with significant crime.

"All we want is to be given a fair shot," Garza said.

Swinford's answer to the chiefs' request for a seat on the security council was unequivocal: "No."

The proposed three-member council, Swinford said, is already balanced and adding another agency "messes up the whole deal."

The security council, he said, could and probably would send some of the state's $100 million to city police departments. But, he said, another $100 million from Congress that the security council would also oversee would be strictly for sheriffs.

Swinford said city police departments have more officers than sheriffs in rural areas trying to combat drug trafficking.

"It's a whiny-bag deal looking for a pot of gold," he said about the chiefs sending the letter instead of contacting him about their concerns.

In the letter, the police chiefs also said they are not equipped to enforce federal immigration laws as the bill would require.

Wiles said his department would not seek the border security grants if doing so would require enforcing immigration laws.

Though Swinford's bill specifically says that departments won't get border security money if their officers do not "fully enforce" all federal immigration laws, Swinford said that his intent is simply to have officers turn over undocumented immigrants to federal authorities.

He said the bill does not require officers to track down illegal immigrants.

"I don't know what they don't understand about that, but I've told it a thousand times," he said.

In the letter, the police chiefs also said they were also disconcerted by the "surge" method used in current border security efforts. Increasing patrols for short periods of time, they said, only temporarily reduces crime, but does not dismantle crime organizations at the root of border violence.

"We openly question how their statistics and success rates have been calculated," the letter said.

Perry and border sheriffs have claimed dramatic crime reductions during their operations. A recent El Paso Times analysis of crime statistics showed about 8 percent fewer crime reports border wide during the first year of border operations. Crime actually increased in the El Paso County and in Webb County, home to two of the border's largest cities.

El Paso County Sheriff Leo Samaniego, who helped develop the border security strategy, said intelligence information officers gather during "surge" operations does help dismantle criminal enterprises.

"We strongly support the state-funded and organized surge operations because they do shut down criminal activity along the border during that time frame," Samaniego said in a written statement.

Katherine Cesinger, spokeswoman for Perry, said the governor would be open to having police chiefs represented on the council.

"This legislation is going through the process, so certainly nothing's final at this point," she said.

The House will vote on the bill on Monday. It must also be approved in the Senate and signed by Perry.

http://www.elpasotimes.com/breakingnews/ci_5759852