OLIVER, OSOYOOS BACK BORDER PATROLS

OLIVER -- Proponents of a new border patrol say it's too easy to smuggle
illegal substances across the Canada-United States border. Except for the
manned border crossings at ports of entry across the country, Canada's
9,000-kilometre border with the U.S. remains virtually unguarded

With the support of Canadian border communities such as Osoyoos and Oliver,
Canada's Customs and Excise Union wants to see a dedicated border patrol
established to watch the line between the two countries

"There's literally over 200 unguarded roads that you can enter this country
by without having to report to customs," said Ron Moran, national president
of the union

He said smuggling happens at the unmanned portions of the crossing

"If you have a proven effective border crossing that filters well, why
would I (go through there) if I can just drive two kilometres east or west
and enter without seeing anybody?" It's Moran's letter to municipalities
along the Canadian border that had Oliver and Osoyoos town councils
throwing their support behind the initiative

At Monday night's meeting, Oliver council agreed to send a letter
supporting the creation of a patrol

"I think we should support this just for the simple reason that drugs are
being transported across the border," Coun. Pat Hampson said at the meeting

Hampson added later that during the 1990s, the RCMP conducted border
patrols in B.C. Those patrols were ended, he said

"They are not patrolling to border; they are guarding the actual crossings.
And I think if the police were providing the border control function . . .
we need to continue it because this is not the time to reduce the amount of
protection on the border," Hampson said Tuesday

Currently, smuggling is being fought by the Integrated Border Enforcement
Team, a multi-agency law-enforcement team that emphasizes a harmonized
approach to Canadian and American efforts to target cross-border criminal
activity

However, Moran said the team is no replacement for patrolling the border.
Though IBET will attend a section of the border if suspicious activity is
detected, it does not actively patrol. Ultimately, even if the existing
services are doing their jobs well, Moran said it's not enough

"If you have a very, very effective point of entry at every location, with
the proper access, computer systems and the right staffing levels and so on
. . . even if you have that, if you are not doing anything in-between, then
what's the point?" said Moran. "One could, without exaggerating, argue you
are just wasting all that." Hampson said with the significant length of
unguarded border running from the Kootenays to the Coast Mountains, the
risk of smuggling is high

"Any of the areas are areas where a person can jump across the border on
foot, carrying whatever it is they want to carry that could be considered
contraband," he said, pointing to events such as the plane that
crash-landed in Keremeos last fall after allegedly dropping bales of marijuana

"That is possibly the tip of the iceberg. If they are doing it by air,
there's probably a lot of foot traffic as well." "Smuggling is continually
increasing," said Moran. "The worst substance that is coming in is crack
cocaine -high-quality crack cocaine." Going out is marijuana that supplies
a large market

The patrol the union is requesting would consist of about 250 people to
start, and would be established under the Canada Border Services Agency,
which operates the customs offices. By contrast, the U.S. has a border
patrol of close to 1,200 actively patrolling the ground and skies. In fact,
it was the U.S. border patrol which alerted authorities to the Keremeos
incident.