Pubdate: Mon, 30 Aug 2010 Source: El Paso Times (TX) Copyright: 2010 El Paso Times Contact: http://www.elpasotimes.com/townhall/ci_14227323 Website: http://www.elpasotimes.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/829 'BOILING POINT' EXERCISE TESTS COMMUNICATIONS When an emergency situation occurs, it's essential that responders work together in areas such as communication, planning and operations. Working together was the focus of an exercise Thursday in which 22 agencies, including the Mexican federal police, sought ways to better respond to violence along the border. A recent shootout on the Mexican side of the border, in which a bullet landed at UTEP, served to underscore the benefits of "Exercise Boiling Point." There seemed to be a bit of disagreement between Mexican and American officials about whether the exercise was a response to deepening drug violence in Juarez. Mexican officials said violence wasn't the reason. More likely is what Michael Przybyl, acting chief of the Border Patrol in the El Paso Sector, said. He noted that the exercise was necessary because of the "increase in drug violence" and during "critical times where the violence has increased exponentially." The drug violence is a reality and it must be addresses on both sides of the border. Mexican and American authorities must be able to communicate and cooperate in the case of an incident, to protect citizens on both sides of the border and to prevent any incident from escalating and getting out of hand. During Exercise Boiling Point, some problems were discovered. For example, Mexican authorities refer to the international bridges by different names that we do on this side of the border. What's called the Bridge of the Americas here is called the Cordova Bridge in Mexico. That could lead to confusion during a border incident. Border Patrol spokesman Ramiro Cordero said, "We did find some -- I don't want to call them flaws -- but some areas that needed a little bit of improvement and we discussed those and, of course, they had to do with communication." In the best of times, effective binational communication is important. In violent times, it's vital for the lives of people on both sides of the border. - --- MAP posted-by: Jo-D