High-tech cameras, vehicles, guns at Border Security Expo aid border patrol in Arizona

BY Edgar Sandoval
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Saturday, May 1st 2010, 4:00 AM
The Biometric Portable Acquisition Computer or BPAC scans a face or iris and takes fingerprints and communicates with law enforcement databases to see if the person has a police record.
Sipkin/News

PHOENIX - Smile! And then start packing your bags.

Meet the BPAC, a state-of-the-art camera that can bust illegal immigrants with a single snapshot and a near-instant search of law enforcement databases.

It's one in an array of James Bond-styled goodies available at the Border Security Expo in Phoenix, home to the highest-tech tools for corralling local illegals.

"It feels like the government is trying to find new ways to get us," said Ricardo Zamudio, 18, who moved with his undocumented parents to Phoenix at age 9.

The hand-held BPAC, or Biometric Portable Acquisition Camera, was among the expo's most popular items, said Benny Asklof, a representative with the manufacturer MaxVision.

"This camera can take a photo of a face, and even if your eyes are closed, and search if a person is wanted by the law," Asklof said. "Now with the immigration issue, you can find out if a person has been deported before."

Since the technology works off photographs, aliases offer no protection. The photo search includes state, local and national databases, Asklof said.

The device is more bad news for Arizona's estimated 500,000 illegals, who must now dodge man and machine to avoid deportation.

Local and federal agents said the equipment is used in the war on drugs, as well as for identifying undocumented residents in the Grand Canyon state. But there was more - much more - than just the BPAC.

The Spider Optical Radar is a surveillance camera that scans for human targets up to three miles away.

Once a target is identified, though, it's hard for law enforcement to trek through the remote, rugged terrain.

Enter John Kaniosar, a volunteer sheriff deputy with the Maricopa Sheriff's Department. Kaniosar stood next to his War Wagon, a Jeep designed to drive at up to 80 mph through the desert.

He reconfigured his 1975 Jeep into a dune buggy on steroids - equipped with a PA speaker, bright lights, tool box, and wheels capable of climbing any rocky hill.

The WatchGuard DV-1 Third Generation deserves its sci-fi name, said Rick Hartman, of manufacturer WatchGuard.

The patrol camera can simultaneously record images and sounds in front and behind a police cruiser. The images are then recorded on a DVD in real time.

"The camera is watching and recording all angles the officer can't see, especially when he's busy dealing with someone," Hartman said.

Fancy cameras and radars are small potatoes next to the Dillon Aero M134D, a high-powered rifle mounted on top of law enforcement trucks. Its six barrels can blast up to 3,000 bullets per minute.

Dillon Aero's motto: "He who shoots the most. The fastest. Wins."

esandoval@nydailynews.com

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