BORDER CAMERAS LOOKING TO SHAKE SHUTTER BUGS

A remote fibre-optic camera system keeping tabs on the U.S.-Canada border
since March is troubled by a raft of glitches.

U.S. Border Patrol Deputy Chief John Bates said last week that staff daily
report problems with the monitoring system.

While he wouldn't give up specifics, issues reportedly include
malfunctioning focus in higher temperatures and problems with the fibre-optics.

"There still are bugs right now," Bates said.

"The message I'm getting from headquarters is the issues we're having are
going to get addressed.

"We're just sitting back and waiting for that to happen."

The 32 pairs of cameras =AD strategically placed on 18-metre poles along 70
kilometres of the border between Blaine and through Abbotsford to the
Columbia Valley =AD were the product of two years' work to strengthen
border enforcement. A key focus was illegal aliens and B.C. bud marijuana.

Bates said since coming on line, the cameras have made an impact.

"It's been great =AD we caught 107 illegal entrants; there were five loads
of marijuana that we apprehended, valued about $800,000 U.S.; there were
four smugglers we arrested," Bates said.

"It's all been good stuff."

Despite the technical glitches, Bates has started the ball rolling to
expand the system. The plan is still "very, very preliminary," he said.

"Nothing's in the works yet."

One challenge Bates sees as bigger than the technical tweaking is a lack of
staff to monitor the system.

While the aim is for three people full-time, each eight-hour shift now is
manned by just one.

In addition to monitoring cameras for activity, that individual must
dispatch three local police departments, provide back-up for 911 calls and
dispatch border agents to problem areas.

"It's a very difficult job," Bates said.

He attributed successes of the surveillance system so far largely to that
staff.

There's also a need for more patrol agents.

An additional 40 during summer upped Bates' contingent to 97.

The border patrol works with U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Customs, and the Drug
Enforcement Agency, as well as with the RCMP and Canada Customs and
Immigration.