Border sheriffs gather to talk technology, security

SAN ANTONIO - More deputies to patrol Boca Chica Beach and a mobile CSI unit for Hidalgo County are at the top of two Rio Grande Valley sheriffs’ wish lists as they look to apply for some of the millions Gov. Rick Perry will dish out for border security projects.

Hidalgo County Sheriff Lupe Trevino and Cameron County Sheriff Omar Lucio met with about 30 other county lawmen from California to Texas for a meeting of the Southwestern Border Sheriff’s Coalition on Thursday. They were there to learn about technologies that could help them patrol their counties.

Most of the training was closed to the public, but Don Reay, executive director of the Texas Border Sheriff’s Coalition, said one speaker from Albuquerque planned to show the sheriffs how his company’s device works. The technology sends a camera device the size of a hawk into the air that patrols for illegal activity.

Since technology aids are pricey - two of the devices cost $75,000 — Reay said sheriffs are looking for ways to pool their resources to buy technology.

Perry’s office said the more than $50 million his office can distribute through grants for border security will go to individual sheriff’s offices or other entities, disappointing Reay and others in the coalition who thought they could get more money by applying for money as a group.

But Trevino said the rules could work to Hidalgo County’s advantage since the old way of applying for money as a group tended to favor the small counties.

“Under this new system the larger counties like us will have a louder voice,” he said.

He wants to apply for grant money to buy a $300,000 sophisticated mobile unit where 10 of his homicide investigators and five crime scene investigators can visit small towns in the county to help identify fingerprints and solve crimes.

Trevino also wants to find money to upgrade the county’s outdated radio system, which needs a $12 million overhaul, he said.

Lucio said he would welcome more money for technology and equipment in the Cameron County Sheriff’s Office. But what he most needs is manpower, at least 25 additional deputies, to patrol the county, he said.

He also wants to build an outpost at Boca Chica Beach, which is at the mouth of the Rio Grande and popular with illegal crossers, drug smugglers and other criminals. Sometimes murderers from Mexico bring bodies to the beach to get rid of the evidence, he said.

During the two-day training, U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, Texas Homeland Security director Steve McCraw and other state and federal officials were scheduled to address the group.