AP
Monday, January 8, 2007
EL PASO — A monthlong test run this fall of a Web site
allowing ordinary citizens monitor the border via live video resulted
in the apprehension of 10 undocumented immigrants, one drug bust
and one interrupted smuggling route.
State officials said that making apprehensions wasn't the goal
of the $200,000 border camera tests.
The point was to see whether the idea was feasible — and
whether the software and technology worked, Texas Homeland Security
Director Steve McCraw said.
"This wasn't designed to tee-up and support (law enforcement)
operationally. It never was," McCraw told the El Paso Times
for today's editions. "It was designed specifically just
to see the technology."
But some border lawmakers said the results made them doubt the
efficiency of Gov. Rick Perry's plan to put $5 million worth of
cameras on the border. He is set to ask lawmakers to approve the
money during the legislative session that will start Tuesday.
"It seems to me that $20,000 per undocumented worker is
a lot of money," said state Rep. Norma Chavez, D-El Paso.
The newspaper obtained state reports about the results of the
November trial of Gov. Rick Perry's Texas Border Watch online
camera program. Through the Public Information Act, the newspaper
also received a sampling of the 14,800 e-mails viewers sent through
the Web site.
The e-mails led U.S. Border Patrol to 10 of the more than 12,000
undocumented immigrants officials said agents caught in November
on the Texas-Mexico border.
During its test run from Nov. 3 through Nov. 30, the site received
nearly 28 million hits. About 220,000 registered on the site.
McCraw said that during the test, eight to 12 cameras along Texas'
1,200-mile border with Mexico were operating in four counties
— El Paso, Val Verde, Hidalgo and Cameron.
According to information compiled by the Texas Homeland Security
Department, more than one-third, 5,534, of the e-mails viewers
sent through the Web site were reports of possible suspicious
activity along the border.
The rest were comments, reports of technical problems and suggestions
for improvement. More than 2,200 were blank e-mails.
As the test continued, McCraw said, state officials incorporated
some of the e-mailed suggestions into the Web site. He said that
one of the best ideas from viewers was to include details about
what kind of activity would be suspicious in the areas.
In the second half of the test period, most of the e-mails from
viewers reported suspicious activity, but far fewer were received
each day with the number of e-mails dropping from an average of
about 1,100 a day the first week to about 150 a day in the final
week.
McCraw said that though those were the only two occasions on
which immigrants were arrested, e-mail reports helped law enforcement
officers chase back others who were trying to cross illegally.
Val Verde County Sheriff D'Wayne Jernigan said the viewers did
surveillance work he can't afford to have his deputies do.
Perry spokesman Robert Black said Perry would ask lawmakers for
the $5 million to operate the cameras as part of his $100 million
border security package.
"If we can get this much help and feedback from a handful
of cameras, we're going to get a lot more participation the more
cameras we put up," Black said.
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