Virtual border system ineffective, out of cash

from the border cameras.

Viewers watched from all over the world, including Switzerland, Australia, and even Mexico. The report also showed that all those viewers did not find much illegal activity.

The sheriffs coalition was to install 200 cameras, but only 17 were up and running. This is about one camera for every 70 miles of the 1,200-mile Texas-Mexico border. The cameras were expected to generate 1,200 arrests. The sheriffs coalition reported 11. Internet border watchers’ reports led to the referral of about 300 undocumented immigrants to U.S. Border Patrol officials. This is about 6 percent of the 4,500 referrals the program was expected to generate.

Reay explained the gap between the objectives and the results in this response on the report: “Original goals were not realistic. Problems encountered was an element of the press who did everything within their power to negate the problem (sic).” One failure of the program, Reay said, was its inability to become self-sustaining.

Grissom notes that BlueServo, the company that operates the cameras, was supposed to sell advertising on the Web site. Revenue from the advertising would then support the operation and eventually eliminate the need for public funds. Reay said BlueServo had neither the time nor the staff to sell ads. The economic downturn didn’t help either. “We did fail in that. It didn’t happen,” Reay said. A final payment of more than $450,000 is scheduled to go to BlueServo this week, Reay said.

The total cost for operating the camera program in its first year, Reay said, was about $1.99 million. For now, he said, the cameras are still broadcasting footage from the border. But without another grant, he said, the program will die.

Perry’s rosier report
After questions about results in the year-end report and whether funding would be renewed for the cameras, Perry spokeswoman Katherine Cesinger produced a different report. The newly produced report showed objectives radically reduced from the original goals. Instead of 200 cameras, it said the sheriffs coalition was expected to install only 15, making it appear as if the group exceeded its goals by installing 17 cameras.

The target number of arrests was revised downward from 1,200 to 25, much closer to the 11 arrests the sheriffs coalition actually made.

The original objectives, Cesinger said, were supposed to have been revised after a six-month progress report earlier this year showed the program was far from meeting its targets. There was some sort of “glitch”