We’ve heard of GPS tracking devices being used in criminal cases, but the Texas Border Sheriffs’ Coalition is trying something quite different. The border patrol body which represents 20 counties along the Mexican border where illegal crossings and drug smuggling are frequent has set up a public monitoring system to catch the bad guys.
15 of a planned 200 cameras have been installed along a 1,254-mile Texas-Mexico border, with more than 100, 000 public volunteers monitoring the border from all over the world using nothing more than an internet connection.
The Coalition states that the project, which launched in November 2008, has led to the seizure of over 2, 000 pounds of marijuana and 30 incidents in which illegal immigrants were turned back. But not everyone is happy with the project.
State senator Eliot Shapleigh of El Paso, Texas plans to oppose, along with other Democratic party members, renewal of the project’s $2 million state grant which it used to launch. “Border security deserves trained professionals, not pub-goers in Perth,” said Shapleigh.
