San Diego border officials hope to literally "net"smugglers
By Marisa Taylor
The San Diego Union-Tribune
May 8, 2003
They're kamikaze smugglers, and they'll do anything to get into the United States.
Packing their cars with illegal immigrants and drugs, they come speeding across the U.S.-Mexican border, sometimes so unexpectedly that inspectors have to leap out of the way.
Authorities have tried to fight back against the port runners by installing steel spikes that pop out of the road and destroy the smugglers' tires.
But the spikes pose problems. Sometimes the smugglers smash into vehicles, injuring innocent people. They also have learned how to drive over the spikes by filling their tires with silicon.
Border authorities may have found a safer, more effective solution.
Next week at the San Ysidro crossing, they'll begin testing a device called the VSS, or Vehicle Stopping System, which snares smugglers in nets similar to those used to catch jets as they land on aircraft carriers.
"We used to have to jump out of their way," said Lauren Mack, a spokeswoman for the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection in San Diego. "Now we're going to stop them using a high-tech net."
The device stops vehicles so smoothly that the occupant of a car traveling at 50 mph isn't pitched forward. The 12-foot-wide net also prevents suspects from fleeing because it wraps around the doors of the vehicle, trapping those inside until authorities arrive.
"The primary goal is to prevent the illegal entry of immigrants into United States, but to do it in a way that is absolutely safe to the occupants," said Ken Ducey, president and CFO of Markland Technologies, the Ridgefield, Conn.-based company that designed the system.
Port runners have long been a danger at the border.
Ten years ago, smugglers tried to race through the San Ysidro port of entry at least once a day.
The spikes reduced the problem, but didn't eliminate it.
Last year, 76 port runners tried to cross the border, up from 54 the year before. That number doesn't include the increasing number of wrong-way drivers who try to drive north from Mexico through southbound lanes.
The search for technology to replace the spikes began about three years ago.
The government invested about $200,000 in the VSS, which uses material similar to the resilient cord used by the fishing industry.
The device has been installed at San Ysidro on the U.S. side of the inspection booths, where cars spill into three lanes. The net is activated by an inspector who pushes a button inside the booth.
If the VSS works as planned, border authorities have expressed interest in installing such devices elsewhere along the Southwest border, Ducey said. Each is expected to cost about $30,000, plus $20,000 for installation.
Since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the Department of Homeland Security has been looking for any kind of technology that can help guard the border without slowing legitimate travelers.
Tom Ridge, who heads the fledgling agency, announced during a visit to San Diego last month that the United States plans to expand the program known as SENTRI _ the Secure Electronic Network for Travelers Rapid Inspection.
Motorists who pass a security clearance and pay a fee every two years can use the program to pass through ports of entry quickly.
Officials plan to open a SENTRI lane for pedestrians by September. As people walk across the border, their passes will be scanned electronically.
Border authorities also plan to launch the U.S. VISIT program, which uses high-tech, biometric cards to register all foreign visitors as they arrive at international airports and seaports. The cards will include photos, fingerprints or eye scans.
With all the talk about high-tech gadgets, the steel spikes known as tire shredders seem out of date.
Last year, tire shredders that the United States installed on the Mexican side of the border were temporarily welded shut on orders from Mexican customs officials after southbound motorists complained that the spikes were shredding their tires as they drove legally into Tijuana.