Border Patrol amps up arsenal
Border Patrol amps up arsenal
BY JEFFREY GAUTREAUX, SUN STAFF WRITER
Nov 14, 2005
The Yuma sector of the U.S. Border Patrol showed off some of its newest equipment and newest agents Monday morning.
Flanked by some of the new manpower, Yuma sector Chief Patrol Agent Ronald Colburn unveiled two new boats that will be used to patrol the Colorado River and an armored vehicle to be used in dangerous situations.
"We've already seized marijuana through the use of the Border Patrol boat deployment," Colburn said.
Since the two shallow draft boats began patrols in October, they have been used to arrest two people in a boat with 245 pounds of marijuana and apprehend more than 140 illegal aliens, according to the Border Patrol.
The boats are effective in apprehending illegal aliens who attempt to cross the river using rafts or sandbag bridges, Colburn said. They will be deployed on an as-needed basis, and Colburn said they would likely patrol both during day and night.
The boats, which were formerly used by the Border Patrol on the Rio Grande in Texas, are added to the two hovercrafts that the Yuma sector has been using for three years to patrol canals.
Here is the beginning of my post.
The armored vehicle will generally not be used for regular patrols but rather for special situations, such as the recovery of an injured person or agent or for Border Patrol SRT (Special Response Team) operations in particularly volatile areas.
The sport utility vehicles equipped with cages, known as “war wagons,” will continue to be used for patrols in the San Luis, Ariz., area, Colburn said.
"There have been dozens of (rock-throwing) incidents," Colburn said. "It costs tens of thousands of dollars to replace the glass that is broken. With the armored vehicle, it protects us from small arms fire and allows us to patrol the border and get someone out of a high-risk situation."
The Border Patrol said agents were assaulted 119 times last year. The majority of the assaults were from rocks but also included several shootings and 15 incidents of border banditry.
The armored vehicle was acquired at no cost through the federal government's Defense Reutilization and Marketing Office (DRMO), which inventories excess military equipment and attempts to find buyers. The only cost to Border Patrol was to retrofit the vehicle, Colburn said.
The vehicle was used by the U.S. Air Force in the 1980s, and in 1991 it was transferred to the Baltimore Police Department.
The new equipment was unveiled Monday morning at the West Wetlands Park in Yuma.
All new equipment that is added to the Yuma sector is being outfitted with a new logo. The new vehicles have a large solid stripe, the logo of the Department of Homeland Security and the words U.S. Customs and Border Protection painted on the side.
While the new tools are important, ultimately there must be a "human interceptor" to apprehend illegal aliens who cross the border, Colburn said. The Yuma sector is in the process of receiving a significant boost in its number of boots on the ground.
The number of agents in the sector has doubled in the seven months Colburn has been on the job. An additional 250 agents are scheduled to be added this fiscal year.
"That should bring us to 850 agents by 2007," Colburn said. "That would be two and a half times the manpower we had in March."
A recent graduate of the Border Patrol academy, Frank Ceraso, 26, of Lake Worth, Fla., has been in Yuma for three and a half weeks, learning the lay of the land and how to be an agent in this area.
Ceraso made his first trips out to the field this past week. "It looks like it's going to be very exciting," Ceraso said. "There's a lot to learn."
Since Ceraso was part of the initial wave of trainees, he expected to see the danger on the border increase while he is an agent. He said it would probably get worse before it got better.
Colburn said that would likely be the case.
"Historically, violence tends to increase first," he said. "It's because we're taking back turf on the border and whether it is the Wonder Boys or other gangs, they feel that they own it. And when this happens, they will try us."
Colburn said eventually the violence will decrease because Border Patrol will take control of the border. But for the time being, every agent who goes out on a shift has the chance of being attacked, Colburn said.
In meeting those dangers, Ceraso said it was nice to be among a large group of new agents. He said they can help each other to learn the job.
"If you don't know something, you can look to your left or right and your classmates will know," he said. "It means a little less pressure."
Jeffrey Gautreaux can be reached at
jgautreaux@yumasun.com or 539-6858.
© Copyright, YumaSun.com
And here is the rest of it.
BY JEFFREY GAUTREAUX, SUN STAFF WRITER
Nov 14, 2005
The Yuma sector of the U.S. Border Patrol showed off some of its newest equipment and newest agents Monday morning.
Flanked by some of the new manpower, Yuma sector Chief Patrol Agent Ronald Colburn unveiled two new boats that will be used to patrol the Colorado River and an armored vehicle to be used in dangerous situations.
"We've already seized marijuana through the use of the Border Patrol boat deployment," Colburn said.
Since the two shallow draft boats began patrols in October, they have been used to arrest two people in a boat with 245 pounds of marijuana and apprehend more than 140 illegal aliens, according to the Border Patrol.
The boats are effective in apprehending illegal aliens who attempt to cross the river using rafts or sandbag bridges, Colburn said. They will be deployed on an as-needed basis, and Colburn said they would likely patrol both during day and night.
The boats, which were formerly used by the Border Patrol on the Rio Grande in Texas, are added to the two hovercrafts that the Yuma sector has been using for three years to patrol canals.
Here is the beginning of my post.
The armored vehicle will generally not be used for regular patrols but rather for special situations, such as the recovery of an injured person or agent or for Border Patrol SRT (Special Response Team) operations in particularly volatile areas.
The sport utility vehicles equipped with cages, known as “war wagons,” will continue to be used for patrols in the San Luis, Ariz., area, Colburn said.
"There have been dozens of (rock-throwing) incidents," Colburn said. "It costs tens of thousands of dollars to replace the glass that is broken. With the armored vehicle, it protects us from small arms fire and allows us to patrol the border and get someone out of a high-risk situation."
The Border Patrol said agents were assaulted 119 times last year. The majority of the assaults were from rocks but also included several shootings and 15 incidents of border banditry.
The armored vehicle was acquired at no cost through the federal government's Defense Reutilization and Marketing Office (DRMO), which inventories excess military equipment and attempts to find buyers. The only cost to Border Patrol was to retrofit the vehicle, Colburn said.
The vehicle was used by the U.S. Air Force in the 1980s, and in 1991 it was transferred to the Baltimore Police Department.
The new equipment was unveiled Monday morning at the West Wetlands Park in Yuma.
All new equipment that is added to the Yuma sector is being outfitted with a new logo. The new vehicles have a large solid stripe, the logo of the Department of Homeland Security and the words U.S. Customs and Border Protection painted on the side.
While the new tools are important, ultimately there must be a "human interceptor" to apprehend illegal aliens who cross the border, Colburn said. The Yuma sector is in the process of receiving a significant boost in its number of boots on the ground.
The number of agents in the sector has doubled in the seven months Colburn has been on the job. An additional 250 agents are scheduled to be added this fiscal year.
"That should bring us to 850 agents by 2007," Colburn said. "That would be two and a half times the manpower we had in March."
A recent graduate of the Border Patrol academy, Frank Ceraso, 26, of Lake Worth, Fla., has been in Yuma for three and a half weeks, learning the lay of the land and how to be an agent in this area.
Ceraso made his first trips out to the field this past week. "It looks like it's going to be very exciting," Ceraso said. "There's a lot to learn."
Since Ceraso was part of the initial wave of trainees, he expected to see the danger on the border increase while he is an agent. He said it would probably get worse before it got better.
Colburn said that would likely be the case.
"Historically, violence tends to increase first," he said. "It's because we're taking back turf on the border and whether it is the Wonder Boys or other gangs, they feel that they own it. And when this happens, they will try us."
Colburn said eventually the violence will decrease because Border Patrol will take control of the border. But for the time being, every agent who goes out on a shift has the chance of being attacked, Colburn said.
In meeting those dangers, Ceraso said it was nice to be among a large group of new agents. He said they can help each other to learn the job.
"If you don't know something, you can look to your left or right and your classmates will know," he said. "It means a little less pressure."
Jeffrey Gautreaux can be reached at
jgautreaux@yumasun.com or 539-6858.
© Copyright, YumaSun.com
And here is the rest of it.
posted by missionaryman | 12:41 PM
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