The US has unveiled an unlikely weapon in its battle against drug gangs and illegal immigrants at the Texas-Mexico border — pubgoers in Australia.
The drinkers are the most far-flung of a sizeable army of high-tech foot soldiers recruited to assist the border protection effort.
Anyone with an Internet connection can now help to patrol the 2,018km frontier through a network of Webcams set up to allow the public to monitor suspicious activity. Once logged in, the volunteers spend hours studying the landscape and are encouraged to e-mail authorities when they see anyone on foot, in vehicles or aboard boats heading toward US territory from Mexico.
So far, more than 100,000 Web users have signed up online to become virtual border patrol deputies, said Don Reay, executive director of the Texas Border Sheriffs’ Coalition, which represents 20 counties where illegal crossings and drugs and weapons smuggling are rife.
“We had folks send an e-mail saying, in good Australian fashion, ‘Hey mate, we’ve been watching your border for you from the pub in Australia,’” he said.
Since the first 15 of a planned network of 200 cameras went live in November, officials claim that e-mailed tips have led to the seizure of more than 907kg of marijuana and 30 incidents in which “significant numbers” of would-be illegal immigrants were spotted and turned back. Some tips came from Europe, Asia and beyond, but most online watchers are based in Texas, New Mexico and Arizona, three of the four US states that share a border with Mexico.
The cameras, which are positioned on private land at locations along the border favored by illegal immigrants and drug traffickers, were paid for by a US$2 million state grant, which includes money for the accompanying Web site operated as a private-public partnership by social networking company BlueServo.
Opponents have dismissed the project as “the perfect Google border” and say the cameras do little to deter criminal activity.
“Border security deserves trained professionals, not pubgoers in Perth,” said Eliot Shapleigh, a state senator from El Paso, Texas, who claims that the program has resulted in only a handful of arrests. “It’s wholly ineffective for the governor’s stated goal of security, it panders to extremists for political purposes and it’s not an effective use of US$2 million for just three apprehensions.”
Shapleigh said he and fellow Democratic party members plan to oppose the renewal of funding for the cameras later this year.
But Bob Parker, a retired US coastguard captain who spends up to eight hours a day at his computer looking into Mexico, says it is important to keep eyes on the border.
“It’s wild country out there with all the drugs violence,” he said. “It’s just a question of time before that comes here.”
DITCH TACTICS: Kenyan officers were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch suspected to have been deliberately dug by Haitian gang members A Kenyan policeman deployed in Haiti has gone missing after violent gangs attacked a group of officers on a rescue mission, a UN-backed multinational security mission said in a statement yesterday. The Kenyan officers on Tuesday were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch “suspected to have been deliberately dug by gangs,” the statement said, adding that “specialized teams have been deployed” to search for the missing officer. Local media outlets in Haiti reported that the officer had been killed and videos of a lifeless man clothed in Kenyan uniform were shared on social media. Gang violence has left
US Vice President J.D. Vance on Friday accused Denmark of not having done enough to protect Greenland, when he visited the strategically placed and resource-rich Danish territory coveted by US President Donald Trump. Vance made his comment during a trip to the Pituffik Space Base in northwestern Greenland, a visit viewed by Copenhagen and Nuuk as a provocation. “Our message to Denmark is very simple: You have not done a good job by the people of Greenland,” Vance told a news conference. “You have under-invested in the people of Greenland, and you have under-invested in the security architecture of this
A fire caused by a burst gas pipe yesterday spread to several homes and sent a fireball soaring into the sky outside Malaysia’s largest city, injuring more than 100 people. The towering inferno near a gas station in Putra Heights outside Kuala Lumpur was visible for kilometers and lasted for several hours. It happened during a public holiday as Muslims, who are the majority in Malaysia, celebrate the second day of Eid al-Fitr. National oil company Petronas said the fire started at one of its gas pipelines at 8:10am and the affected pipeline was later isolated. Disaster management officials said shutting the
Japan unveiled a plan on Thursday to evacuate around 120,000 residents and tourists from its southern islets near Taiwan within six days in the event of an “emergency”. The plan was put together as “the security situation surrounding our nation grows severe” and with an “emergency” in mind, the government’s crisis management office said. Exactly what that emergency might be was left unspecified in the plan but it envisages the evacuation of around 120,000 people in five Japanese islets close to Taiwan. China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has stepped up military pressure in recent years, including
RSS