The US has unveiled an unlikely weapon in its battle against drug gangs and illegal immigrants at the Texas-Mexico border — pubgoers in Australia.
The drinkers are the most far-flung of a sizeable army of high-tech foot soldiers recruited to assist the border protection effort.
Anyone with an Internet connection can now help to patrol the 2,018km frontier through a network of Webcams set up to allow the public to monitor suspicious activity. Once logged in, the volunteers spend hours studying the landscape and are encouraged to e-mail authorities when they see anyone on foot, in vehicles or aboard boats heading toward US territory from Mexico.
So far, more than 100,000 Web users have signed up online to become virtual border patrol deputies, said Don Reay, executive director of the Texas Border Sheriffs’ Coalition, which represents 20 counties where illegal crossings and drugs and weapons smuggling are rife.
“We had folks send an e-mail saying, in good Australian fashion, ‘Hey mate, we’ve been watching your border for you from the pub in Australia,’” he said.
Since the first 15 of a planned network of 200 cameras went live in November, officials claim that e-mailed tips have led to the seizure of more than 907kg of marijuana and 30 incidents in which “significant numbers” of would-be illegal immigrants were spotted and turned back. Some tips came from Europe, Asia and beyond, but most online watchers are based in Texas, New Mexico and Arizona, three of the four US states that share a border with Mexico.
The cameras, which are positioned on private land at locations along the border favored by illegal immigrants and drug traffickers, were paid for by a US$2 million state grant, which includes money for the accompanying Web site operated as a private-public partnership by social networking company BlueServo.
Opponents have dismissed the project as “the perfect Google border” and say the cameras do little to deter criminal activity.
“Border security deserves trained professionals, not pubgoers in Perth,” said Eliot Shapleigh, a state senator from El Paso, Texas, who claims that the program has resulted in only a handful of arrests. “It’s wholly ineffective for the governor’s stated goal of security, it panders to extremists for political purposes and it’s not an effective use of US$2 million for just three apprehensions.”
Shapleigh said he and fellow Democratic party members plan to oppose the renewal of funding for the cameras later this year.
But Bob Parker, a retired US coastguard captain who spends up to eight hours a day at his computer looking into Mexico, says it is important to keep eyes on the border.
“It’s wild country out there with all the drugs violence,” he said. “It’s just a question of time before that comes here.”
Turning heads as they cruise past office buildings and malls, driverless taxis are slowly spreading through Chinese cities, prompting both wariness and wonder. China’s tech companies and vehicle manufacturers have poured billions of dollars into self-driving technology over the past few years in an effort to catch industry leaders in the US. Now the central city of Wuhan boasts one of the world’s largest networks of self-driving cars, home to a fleet of more than 500 taxis that can be hailed on an app just like regular rides. At one intersection in an industrial area of Wuhan, AFP reporters saw at least five
China and Vietnam yesterday inked 14 documents spanning cross-border railways to crocodile exports after Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) met with new Vietnamese leader To Lam in Beijing. The Vietnamese president’s visit to Beijing, his first overseas trip since becoming the general secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam earlier this month, signals a desire between the two communist neighbors to strengthen ties, amid growing trade and investment, despite occasional clashes over boundaries in the South China Sea. “China has always regarded Vietnam as a priority in its neighborhood diplomacy, and supports Vietnam in adhering to the party leadership, taking the socialist
A former Saudi Arabian official alleged in a report that the kingdom’s Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman forged the signature of his father on the royal decree that launched the kingdom’s years-long, stalemated war against Yemen’s Houthi rebels. Saudi Arabia did not immediately respond to a request for comment over the allegations made without supporting evidence by Saad al-Jabri in an interview published yesterday by the BBC, but the kingdom has described him as “a discredited former government official.” Al-Jabri, a former Saudi Arabian intelligence official who lives in exile in Canada, has been a years-long dispute with the kingdom as
‘ENOUGH IS ENOUGH’: Hospitals said faculty staff from medical colleges were assisting with emergency cases as more than 1 million doctors were expected to strike Hospitals and clinics across India yesterday turned away patients except for emergency cases as medical professionals began a 24-hour shutdown in protest against the brutal rape and murder of a doctor in the eastern city of Kolkata. More than 1 million doctors were expected to join the strike, paralyzing medical services across the world’s most populous nation. Hospitals said faculty staff from medical colleges had been pressed into service for emergency cases. The strike, which began at 6am, cut off access to elective medical procedures and out-patient consultations, the Indian Medical Association said in a statement. The discovery of the 31-year-old doctor’s bloodied