Thread: Gov. perry cancels search for border camera company

Gov. Perry cancels search for border camera company
By Brandi Grissom / Austin Bureau
Article Launched: 05/29/2008 04:21:49 PM MDT


AUSTIN - Gov. Rick Perry's plan to put cameras along the Rio Grande has run into yet another snag nearly two years after he promised voters he would start a "virtual neighborhood watch" for the border.
"We'd rather get it right than get it up in a hurry," Perry spokeswoman Allison Castle said Thursday.

Perry's department of emergency management has canceled a search it started this spring for a company to install cameras on private borderland.

The program is supposed to broadcast footage from those border cameras live on the Internet so that viewers can report illegal activity to law enforcement.

Perry announced during his 2006 re-election campaign that he would spend $5 million in state money to start the program.

After starts and stops, a test run of the cameras went live in November 2006.

The test cost the state about $200,000, and the Web site generated nearly 28 million hits and more than 1 million video sessions.

Online viewers of the 21 cameras helped law enforcement catch 10 undocumented immigrants during the test, according to an El Paso Times review of the results last year.

But state lawmakers rejected Perry's request last year to invest $5 million in the camera program.

Earlier this year, Perry found about $2 million in federal grant money to get the program going and started looking for a company to provide the technology.

Castle said bidders wanted too much money and didn't propose the right services.

"It wasn't going to accomplish



what we were looking for in the price range we're looking for," she said.
Texas Department of Public Safety spokeswoman Lisa Block said seven companies submitted bids for the project. She declined, however, to reveal the cost range of those proposals, because she said the state might try again to find a company to start the cameras.

Perry is still looking for other ways to get the cameras running, Castle said.

"We're completely committed to the program and the technology," she said.

El Paso County Sheriff Jimmy Apodaca said cameras would be helpful for his officers, but only if there are enough deputies to respond to the crimes viewers report.

Border sheriffs have been asking state and federal lawmakers for money to hire more officers to help patrol the border.

Last year, Texas lawmakers approved $110 million for border security, and about $20 million of that was set aside to pay for overtime for local officers.

Sheriffs, however, have said they need more officers instead of making already thinly stretched deputies work additional hours.

"I haven't seen a camera respond to a criminal yet," Apodaca said. "It goes hand-in-hand; the cameras and the boots (on the ground)."

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







http://www.elpasotimes.com/newupdated/ci_9418108

Gov. Perry's border camera plan hits snag
By Brandi Grissom / Austin Bureau
Article Launched: 05/30/2008 12:08:15 PM MDT


AUSTIN -- Gov. Rick Perry's plan to put cameras along the Rio Grande has run into yet another snag nearly two years after he promised voters he would start a "virtual neighborhood watch" for the border.
"We'd rather get it right than get it up in a hurry," Perry spokeswoman Allison Castle said on Thursday.

Perry's department of emergency management has canceled a search it started this spring for a company to install cameras on private borderland. The program is supposed to broadcast footage from those border cameras live on the Internet so that viewers can report illegal activity to law enforcement.

Perry announced during his 2006 re-election campaign that he would spend $5 million in state money to start the program.

After starts and stops, a test run of the cameras went live in November 2006.

The test cost the state about $200,000, and the Web site generated nearly 28 million hits and more than 1 million video sessions.

Online viewers of the 21 cameras helped law enforcement catch 10 undocumented immigrants during the test, according to an El Paso Times review of the results last year.

But state lawmakers rejected Perry's request last year to invest $5 million in the camera program.

Earlier this year, Perry found about $2 million in federal grant money to get the program going and started looking for a company to provide the technology.

Castle said bidders wanted too much money and didn't propose the right services.

"It wasn't going to



accomplish what we were looking for in the price range we're looking for," she said.
Texas Department of Public Safety spokeswoman Lisa Block said seven companies submitted bids for the project. She declined, however, to reveal the cost range of those proposals, because she said the state might try again to find a company to start the cameras.

Perry is still looking for other ways to get the cameras running, Castle said.

"We're completely committed to the program and the technology," she said.

El Paso County Sheriff Jimmy Apodaca said cameras would be helpful for his officers, but only if there are enough deputies to respond to the crimes viewers report.

Border sheriffs have been asking state and federal lawmakers for funds to hire more officers to help patrol the border.

Last year, Texas lawmakers approved $110 million for border security, and about $20 million of that was set aside to pay for overtime for local officers. Sheriffs, however, have said they need more officers instead of making already thinly stretched deputies work additional hours.

"I haven't seen a camera respond to a criminal yet," Apodaca said. " It goes hand-in-hand; the cameras and the boots (on the ground)."

State Sen. Eliot Shapleigh, D-El Paso, said the camera money would be better spent on fighting drug cartels so that violence that has plagued Juarez does not spill across the border. "Putting cameras on the border is an immigration function that should be strictly federal," he said. Brandi Grissom can be reached at bgrissom@elpasotimes.com; (512)479-6606.




http://www.elpasotimes.com/newupdated/ci_9427791