Texas-mexico Border Security Plan Needs Rethinking

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Column 101705 Brewer

Monday, October 17, 2005 Texas-Mexico border security plan needs rethinking By Jerry Brewer Texas Governor Rick Perry’s announced border security plan is weak and in need of greater strategic and proactive thought, for putting additional millions of dollars into what now appears to be a bottomless pit is simply not the answer. The gap needs to be filled with fresh and innovative ideas, elbow grease, and commitment. But when law enforcement is confronted with severe impacting problems, it seems the response is always to come up with more people and money. The Texas Border Sheriff’s Coalition should be saluted for meeting, discussing, and coordinating thoughts for protecting their jurisdictions. However, in Perry’s assessment of local law enforcement as the “on the ground experts,” he should reassess their strategic capabilities and actual plans for the deployment of human and physical resources in this latest endeavor. Perry was quick to point out that “border security is a federal responsibility,” yet Texas has an obligation to protect its citizens. Developing and executing meaningful strategies to protect the safety of Texans, and the security of our nation, requires short to long-range vision and planning. And while money may pave the way for new opportunities, all factors must be monitored and effectively coordinated for maximum efficiency and cost-effectiveness. As well, there must be qualitycontrol processes in place to govern and confront

problems through coordinated team efforts. Local community support is a critical component of this proposed plan. Local government must hold their law enforcement administrators accountable, and they must be tasked to submit solid plans for performance and measurement safeguards to realistically evaluate the efforts versus the desired outcome. This comes with competent studies in deployment, and evaluation of the skills, knowledge and achievements of their internal work forces and leadership. The scary part of this border plan is the identification of an additional US$3 million in criminal justice grant funds for “local officer overtime.” Local governments must cringe when they hear the word overtime over and over again. They hear it nationwide, and they hear it often. They also constantly hear that there is not enough manpower. These budget requests are a constant and they are getting old. The usual rationale is a need to increase patrols and patrol activity, but does law enforcement need more personnel? The answer is a resounding yes, for many law enforcement agencies do not have enough manpower allocated to patrol responsibilities. One problem with many police organizations today is in their top-heavy organizational hierarchy, where the old adage “too many chiefs and not enough Indians” is prevalent. There are also many programs and entities within these organizations that store multitudes of officers in non-enforcement areas. Common tasks and redundancy in this waste of manpower should be reevaluated immediately. The grouping of similar functions, and the redirection of these valuable resources to enforcement areas, is necessary. Patrol zones and areas of responsibility must be studied for effectiveness and strategic deployment, while zone configurations should be reviewed closely. Too, analyzing calls for service, response time, and arrests for crimes in progress will dictate proper zone deployment. A critical component in deploying manpower is scheduling. Agencies with limited manpower can effectively compensate with innovative scheduling, such as overlapping patrol shifts during which officers are staggered at non-traditional times of day or peak crime times. As well, four day ten hour shifts, and similar

strategies, work well in supplementing manpower when and where people are needed, plus this allows three days off. Overtime creates a greater workload for officers, and their safety and the safety of others becomes a concern. Though these officers may make more money, they become less efficient. Along these lines, it is not always how many officers you have but what those officers actually do while in the field. Governor Perry is on target in asking for money to improve radio communication along the border, and for multi-agency policing initiatives. Increasing the state’s intelligence and wiretapping authority is also necessary. Training is needed that goes beyond traditional police instruction, for terrorist threats require training not before seen by most local and state police. Furthermore, the military can lend equipment and support without militarizing the border, however answers do not lie in citizen militias or vigilantes. The needed dismantling of criminal organizations along the border requires expertise by appropriate trainers, as well as federal agents experienced in this arena. And yes money is urgently needed for these initiatives, but money will not plug every dike. Common sense, effective planning, and oversight of allocated resources are the differences between success and further waste. ____________________ Jerry Brewer, the Vice President of Criminal Justice International Associates, a global risk mitigation firm headquartered in Montgomery, Alabama, is also a columnist with MexiData.info. He can be reached via e-mail at [email protected] [email protected]