El Paso Times
Posted [1] : 2007-09-11 03:18:17

DynCorp International is a a private international security contractor that has sent more than 5,000 private security personnel and police trainers to 11 different countries for the U.S. State Department.

Now the officials at DynCorp have another bright idea -- why not train and deploy 1,000 private "agents" to bolster Border Patrol forces along the Mexican border until the Patrol is able to achieve its mandate of hiring and training thousands of new agents.

That's a really bad idea.

Privately contracted security agents -- mercenaries, some might call them -- could not possibly receive the thorough and specific training that Border Patrol agents receive.

As Border Patrol spokesman Lloyd Easterly said in a Dallas Morning News story, "As long as we've been around, since 1924, we've found the best way to train Border Patrol agents is with other Border Patrol agents. We're the experts on border security, and we know what works and what doesn't."

That view was echoed by T.J. Bonner, president of the National Border Patrol Council, who said in the story, "We enforce a set of complex immigration laws while also being the first line in border security and anti-terrorism," he said.

"It's not a military mission, and it's not classic police work. Other law enforcement officers see what we do and think we're nuts."

Enforcing border security is a tough and sensitive job. It's also a job for the federal government and shouldn't be farmed out to private contractors.

DynCorp has said that border contractors would already have police experience. That's fine, but experience as a police officer doesn't include the specialized expertise necessary to the job of patrolling the border.

Responsibilities that include tasks ranging from stopping illegal immigration to protecting against terrorists and terrorism aren't in the range of normal police activities.

If DynCorp or another private contractor wants to come in and fill some of the office jobs and administrative work that keeps trained agents in offices rather than out on the line, well, that could work.

But creating a second, semi-autonomous, privately trained group of disparate law enforcement personnel and entrusting and integrating them with Border Patrol strategy and objectives is neither practical nor desirable.