Pubdate: Wed, 13 Apr 2005 Source: Penticton Herald (CN BC) Copyright: 2005 The Okanagan Valley Group of Newspapers Contact: http://www.pentictonherald.ca/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/664 Author: Laurena Weninger Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mjcn.htm (Cannabis - Canada) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/coke.htm (Cocaine) 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. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom