CAMERAS TO FOCUS ON LAWBREAKERS

S. Texas Town Won't Use Devices In Fight On Illegal Immigration

Like many border cities these days, Eagle Pass is turning to cameras
to watch for lawbreakers crossing from Mexico.

The Police Department in the South Texas city is installing three
cameras with special capabilities to catch drug smugglers and thieves
and isn't interested in the immigration status of suspects.

"I am adamantly opposed to local and state law enforcement asking
people for documentation proving their citizenship," Chief Juan
Castaneda said.

The cameras include one with a 360-degree view and one with night
vision.

The surveillance video will be monitored full time to spot criminal
activity, public safety emergencies and homeland security threats but
won't be a tool for local police to combat immigration violations.

Chief Castaneda, like some other Texas police chiefs, maintains that
immigration enforcement is a federal job.

"We are concerned for the commercial traffic; we are concerned for the
bridge being susceptible to bombs," he said.

Highjackings and drug trafficking along a road under the bridge that
parallels the Rio Grande are also a worry, Chief Castaneda said.

Unlike a series of cameras that Gov. Rick Perry plans to post on
private property along the border to stream live video to the
Internet, the Eagle Pass footage will be available only to law
enforcement.

Hilario Leal, a supervisory Border Patrol agent in the Del Rio Sector,
which includes Eagle Pass, said details are being worked out about how
or whether Border Patrol officials will also monitor the cameras.
Either way, the technology will help, Agent Leal said.

"It's always beneficial to have extra help, extra eyes," he said. "I
think like any kind of technological assistance we have, it's a
force-multiplier. Instead of [posting] an officer down there, you've
got one guy watching three cameras."

The $100,000 camera network was paid for by the Border Research and
Technology Center, a federally funded San Diego-based group that
provides technological help for state and local law enforcement along
the border.

New software, developed by engineers at the University of California
at San Diego with federal grants of about $1 million, will alert
officers monitoring the high-resolution video to any suspicious
activity. The project will test the new technology and give city
officials a new look at areas around the bridge.

The project was launched after Chief Castaneda sought help to
monitoring the area, said Chris Aldridge, director of western
operations for the research center. Chief Castaneda serves on the
research center's advisory board.

If successful, the project could eventually be duplicated in other
border cities, Mr. Aldridge said.