Pubdate: Sat, 22 Jun 2013 Source: Oregonian, The (Portland, OR) Copyright: 2013 The Oregonian Contact: http://www.oregonlive.com/oregonian/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/324 Author: Les Zaitz Series: Under the Curse of Cartels - An Oregonian Special Report AT BUSY EL PASO BORDER, OFFICERS' SEARCH FOR DRUGS A DAILY RITUAL The fight to keep drugs out of Oregon starts at border cities such as El Paso, Texas. Here, officers in pressed blue uniforms and caps with gold shields use technology, observation and wits to intercept smugglers. It's no easy task. Morning rush hour tests the U.S. Customs and Border Protection staff at the main Paso Del Norte crossing in downtown El Paso. Thousands of Mexicans, most headed for day jobs, shopping or school, patiently inch off a bridge over the Rio Grande River from Cuidad Juarez toward a series of inspections. Officers wander up and down the lines of cars to look for anything amiss. Cameras read license plates and officers in booths examine identity papers for instant checks against databases of known or suspected traffickers and their vehicles. Officers ask a few questions, looking for stumbling or nervous answers. Most cars are waved through after a brief check, but a handful are sent into "secondary," where drug-detecting dogs circle the car and officers poke into cargo. Drivers and passengers are sent to sit on stainless-steel benches mounted on concrete barriers off to the side. One recent morning, officers moved a Dodge pickup into an auto bay, where specially trained mechanics dismantled it piece by piece. A dog had indicated drugs. An hour later, the mechanics found marijuana, pressed into a block by a home garbage compactor, in a metal container inside the gas tank. Next to the traffic lanes, thousands more hike over the bridge to line up at the pedestrian entry. Most are quiet, enduring a routine as much a part of their day as getting dressed. Handlers weave dogs randomly through the lines to smell people and packages. Dogs sit quietly when they detect a suspicious smell, and a treat follows. At the gate, officers review identities, scan monitors and motion walkers through. Agents from Homeland Security Investigations gather intelligence from those who come seeking asylum, often to escape the violent drug cartels in Juarez. They also interview those seeking treatment for gunshot wounds, people who've proved a fertile source of information on cartels and drug smuggling. Border officers also watch for children smuggling drugs. During a tour, an officer points out a juvenile detention hall in Mexico, explaining that cartels routinely bribe the workers into letting them use boys and girls as smugglers. Cartels know children caught crossing the U.S. border with drugs won't be jailed, they'll just be sent back. Outside El Paso, the streetscape fades into a dusty, nearly waterless countryside, the border marked by a 15- to 18-foot-tall steel fence. The fence also reaches 15 feet into the ground to deter tunnelers. Officers here drag a harrow along the fence line to erase tracks so new ones stand out. They patrol the most dangerous segments with armored "war wagons." Back in town, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration runs the El Paso Intelligence Center, known as EPIC, to collate data on drug cases from around the world. The center, in a guarded compound of low-slung buildings at Fort Bliss, home of the U.S. Army's 1st Armored Division, looks for connections in an enormous storehouse of information on traffickers and their associates, vehicles and businesses. Oregon officials tap into EPIC, for instance, to check whether someone who was stopped on suspicion of carrying drugs has links to any other U.S. case. The state has 406 officers cleared to use EPIC. Last year, they queried the center 1,386 times. El Paso has been ranked the safest large city in the U.S. three years running because of its low crime rate. But in 2008, office workers in El Paso could peer over the border to see gunbattles in Juarez. In 2010, seven rounds from a gunfight slammed into El Paso's City Hall. U.S. officials sent hundreds more officers. "We wanted to send a message that that sort of violence would not be tolerated here," said Joseph Arabit, special agent in charge of the DEA's El Paso office. "Our number one priority is to keep the U.S. safe." - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom