Keeping Liberty Safe: Navy Border Shore Patrol ensures 'Safe Crossing'

Friday, May 11, 2007

By MC3 Tim Wightman | Navy Compass Staff

OPERATION SAFE CROSSING



'Safe Crossing' volunteers sign in and are issued handcuffs prior to the operation getting underway May 4.



Photo by MC3 Tim Wightman


Detained at the Border



Violators of the liberty policy are put in restraints and booked by the Navy Border Shore Patrol and 'Safe Crossing' volunteers.



Photo by MC3 Tim Wightman


After being put in restraints, service members must wait for an E-6 or above from their command to pick them up.



Photo by MC3 Tim Wightman


Photo by MC3 Tim Wightman


The Border Shore Patrol looks for specific characteristics when figuring out which people crossing the border may be military - among them are short haircuts and out-of-state drivers licenses.



Photo by MC3 Tim Wightman






The Border Shore Patrol pulls people aside, who they believe could be service members, and checks them out by having dispatch perform an identity search over the internet.



Photo by MC3 Tim Wightman


Photo by MC3 Tim Wightman


MA1 (SW) Todd Bruce briefs volunteers and members of the Border Shore Patrol on procedures and objectives prior to the beginning of Operation Safe Crossing May 4.



Photo by MC3 Tim Wightman


OPERATION SAFE CROSSING



The Marine lance corporal sat on the concrete, handcuffed and surrounded by boundary tape on a chilly, drizzly Friday night May 4 just a few feet from the Mexican border, the place he was trying to get to.

"I just wanted to go into Mexico; I guess that's not happening anymore," he said. "Some of my buddies came down a couple of weekends ago, so I thought it'd be all right."

His buddies didn't attempt to get into Mexico during Operation Safe Crossing, an operation conducted by the Navy Border Shore Patrol, the San Diego Police Department, Corrections Department and the Probation Department.

Their collaboration sees to it that any Sailor or Marine E-3 and below has signed authorization from their command that allows them to venture into Mexico with a buddy. The Marine was spotted and questioned at a barrier set up for Operation Safe Crossing and was found to not be in possession of the proper authorization.

The lance corporal said he wasn't aware of the policy. As a result, he had to sit in restraints and wait for a member of his command who was E-6 or above to pick him up.

It could very well have been a lesson in disguise for the Marine.

A Marine of the same rank tried venturing into Mexico some time ago and had far worse results. The lance corporal wound up in a Mexican jail and quickly found himself in a race to come up with the bail money.

"Once (a service member) gets placed in a jail in Mexico and they identify themselves, the jails notify us and we have 48 hours to try to get them out," said Chief Master-at-Arms (SW/AW) Mario Mendoza.

"We find out what the bail amount is and we ask the service member how much money they have, or if they know anyone who might have money to bail them out."

In the case of this Marine, the money to bail him out couldn't be raised and the Marine was placed in the legal system and forced to stay in jail. In Mexico, people don't have the right to a speedy trial and can spend anywhere from six months to a couple of years awaiting trial from their jail cell.

When the person finally does receive their sentence, they can very well end up being condemned to several more years in the penitentiary, which is worse than the Mexican jail, which is far from pleasant.

"They are bad," Mendoza said of the Mexican jails.

'Bad' is a cell assigned to hold six people that ends up holding 18 to 20 people. There are no mattresses and no pillows. The running water is poor. The toilets are just holes in the ground. And there is no toilet paper.

"The worst jail in the United States would be considered the Marriot," Mendoza added.

The Marine ended up doing five years and eight months combined time in the Mexican jail and penitentiary.

So it was the mission of the Sailors, Marines, Policemen, volunteers, etc. of Operation Safe Crossing to ensure that service members had the signed permission from their commands to visit Mexico.

The team set up a barrier just outside the Mexican border where IDs are checked, haircuts are considered, and those thought to be Sailors or Marines are questioned thoroughly by the MAs before they're allowed to proceed into Mexico.

Mendoza talked about the ways the Border Shore Patrol is able to spot service members as they make their way through the barrier.

"We look for haircuts, people with drivers licenses from out of state, those kinds of things; you just feel it. You sense it. After doing it for a while, you just have that sixth sense I guess," Mendoza said.

When an individual is pulled aside, the Border Shore Patrol has dispatch check them out by performing an internet search from headquarters.

It ended up being a particularly slow Safe Crossing for the Border Patrol on this night. They detained fewer than 10 service members altogether.

It was the 25th Safe Crossing for Master-at-Arms 1st Class (SW/AW) Alfredo Ibarra. Even before the night started, he remarked to his fellow MAs concerning the fewer and fewer numbers of service members they were catching at Safe Crossings.

"The service members are getting smarter. The difference is we have made a point to get over to the commands and give them briefs on safety and the liberty policy," Ibarra said. "We tell them what they need and what the requirements are. And then the people that are getting into trouble spread the word.

"Now they're pretty much running their chits. When we ask for them, they have them in-hand, they have their IDs and they're ready to go. So it's easy. It's easy for us. It's easy for them."



The liberty policy for Mexico is outlined in Commander, Navy Region Southwest Instruction 1500.1B, which can be found on the web by visiting www.cnrsw.navy.mil. For more information or to volunteer for Operation Safe Crossing, contact the Navy Border Shore Patrol at (619) 428-2427.


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