Border securityNew way to measure security along U.S.-Mexico border
A new DHS approach to gauging border security will develop a numeric value to be assigned to each of the Border Patrol Sectors to measure just how secure it is; the new index will still include traditional measures such as crime data, apprehensions of suspects, and contraband seizures, but it will go beyond these measures to include hospitals reports on suspected illegal aliens they treat, traffic accidents involving illegal aliens or narcotics smugglers, rates of vehicle theft and numbers of abandoned vehicles, impacts on property values, and other measures of economic activity and environmental impacts
CBP will develop a set of metrics to evaluate security by sector // Source: anasilvia.com
DHS said it was developing a comprehensive index to measure border security in a new way. This index will look at the quality of life of Americans who live along the Mexican border.
The Arizona Daily Star reports that DHS secretary Janet Napolitano told the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs that Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is creating an index to gauge progress. She stated: “CBP is developing, and is consulting with independent, third party experts and stakeholders, on a new comprehensive index that will more holistically represent what is happening at the border and allow us to measure progress.”
The new approach will develop a numeric value to be assigned to each of the Border Patrol Sectors to measure just how secure it is. AZCentral.com explained that the new index will still include traditional measures such as crime data, apprehensions of suspects, and contraband seizures, but it will go beyond these measures better to reflect the effects of illegal immigration and drug trafficking on border towns in Arizona, California, New Mexico, and Texas.
Napolitano told the Senate Committee: “This may include calls from hospitals to report suspected illegal aliens, traffic accidents involving illegal aliens or narcotics smugglers, rates of vehicle theft and numbers of abandoned vehicles, impacts on property values, and other measures of economic activity and environmental impacts.”
The changes take into consideration the complaints of residents who have said that traditional security measures, like state and local crime statistics, didn’t tell the whole story of what is happening in border communities.