Multitask training for border inspectors
U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge and Bureau of Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Robert Bonner emphasized Wednesday that rolling the customs, immigration and agriculture inspection functions together so they can be handled by one officer instead of three people working on independent tracks will improve the nation’s security.
On Tuesday, Ridge announced the transfer of the federal air marshals program and the canine explosives unit from the Transportation Security Administration to the Bureau of Customs and Immigration Enforcement and formally unveiled the department’s goal to cross-train inspectors, who belonged to different agencies before being thrown together in the DHS earlier this year, in multiple disciplines.
Training inspectors stationed at the nation’s ports of entry to have a broad range of skills creates a more efficient, single government presence at the nation’s ports of entry which will “free up some resources and give us a better opportunity and a stronger opportunity to identify terrorists,” Ridge said at an event at Dulles International Airport to highlight the new initiatives.
Bonner said all entering classes of inspectors will be cross-trained and that it would take a couple of years to re-train the 18,000 officers already on the force. Every inspector will be trained to carry out primary inspections and most will also be able to do secondary inspections, or follow-ups of suspicious persons or goods.