Monday, May 17, 2010

Small mobile units emerge as potent border-watch tool

A trail of red dots appears on the computer radar screen. Border Patrol Agent Orlando Rocafort, whose flatbed truck sits atop a peak overlooking a stretch of the U.S.-Mexico border, leans in for a closer look. He slides his computer's mouse over the red dots near the border between Naco and Douglas, and clicks. A whizzing sound comes from the bed of the truck. A pair of mounted cameras rotates, facing southeast. Inside the truck, black-and-white images come into focus on a monitor at Rocafort's right. The thermal night camera shows what appears to be several people carrying backpacks near the border fence. Rocafort picks up his radio and tells agents where to find the suspected illegal immigrants. On this windy and cool May evening in Southeastern Arizona, Rocafort is running one of 38 "mobile surveillance systems" the Border Patrol uses on the Southwest border. The truck-mounted systems give agents the ability to scan at least six miles of border using ground surveillance radar, Doppler radar and infrared day-night cameras...more

And they can't be used in Wilderness areas.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Lets use them in the wilderness areas and see who raises a fuss about it, and then write it up! Wilderness over border security? A good issue to get a Senator sidelined in the next election.