AP Analysis: Border Patrol OT up as arrests drop
Associated Press | Posted: Saturday, February 4, 2012 9:40 am | Comments
Border Patrol agents have racked up daily overtime at a cost of about
$1.4 billion in the past six years while the number of arrests of
illegal border crossers has fallen to the lowest level in nearly 40
years, an Associated Press analysis of agency records finds.
Since the 2006 budget year, the agency charged with stopping would-be
illegal border crossers and smugglers from making it into the U.S.
over land and sea borders has spent more than $1.4 billion on what is
described as "administrative uncontrollable overtime," according to
the data provided by the Border Patrol. In practical terms, agents
average two hours a day in overtime.
That means agents can earn anywhere from 10 percent to 25 percent
extra pay an hour for the first two hours of overtime, with the extra
cash being steadily reduced every hour after that because of
complicated overtime rules. Over the course of a year, an agent can
earn about $15,000 more than the base salary, which for a more
experienced agent is typically over $60,000 a year. Agents are
limited to $35,000 in overtime annually.
The cost of overtime rose from about $155.8 million in 2006 to more
than $331 million in 2011. That increase coincides with the addition
of about 9,000 agents in the past six years and the drop of
apprehensions to a nearly 40-year low, from more than 1 million
arrests in 2006 to about 340,000 in 2011.
Border Patrol Deputy Chief Ronald D. Vitiello said patrolling the
border can be an unpredictable job that requires longer hours from
agents.
"The uncontrollable nature of the work is inherent in the primary
duty of a Border Patrol agent and must be performed in order to get
the job done," Vitiello said, adding that anything from making an
arrest to talking to witnesses can keep an agent on duty beyond a
scheduled shift. Often it stems from charging the Border Patrol for
the time spent driving from a remote location to an agent's home base
or staying late to finish the paperwork from an arrest or seizure of
illicit cargo.
Still, with the government facing record deficits and the Department
of Homeland Security likely to see more cuts, a system that builds in
overtime the same way on the busy U.S.-Mexico border as it does on
the relatively sleepy U.S.-Canadian border raises questions.
Most illegal border crossers are apprehended along the 2,000-mile
long Mexican border in California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas. In
the budget year that ended in September, 18,506 agents made a
combined 327,577 apprehensions _ an average of nearly 18
apprehensions per agent. The agency spent about $283 million on
overtime.
But along the northern border there have been far fewer arrests, a
statistic long used to judge the amount of illegal activity along the
borders. Patrolling about 4,000 miles of border with Canada, 2,237
agents made 6,123 apprehensions_ an average of about three arrests
per agent _ in 2011. For example, the 201 agents in the Houlton
Sector in Maine arrested just 41 illegal border-crosses. Agents on
the northern border earned a combined $37 million in overtime pay.
The more than 200 agents assigned to the Border Patrol's headquarters
also made a combined $4.8 million in overtime last year.
Vitiello defended the long hours and said agents need to have a
strong presence on the border.
"Regardless of the level of illegal cross border activity, agents are
responsible for securing the border against all threats," Vitiello
said. "This means that agents must have the flexibility to develop
intelligence, act on that intelligence, interact with the community
and work with their law enforcement counterparts on illegal activity
that has a nexus to the mission."
As for those agents assigned to headquarters, Vitiello said they also
cover shifts around the clock, including stints in the agency's
situation room.
T.J. Bonner, a retired Border Patrol agent and former president of
the agents' union, said daily overtime is necessary to make sure any
gains made in securing the border aren't lost.
"You can't just punch in for an eight-hour day and go home," said
Bonner, who spent his career in the once-bustling San Diego sector.
"If you have gaps at shift change, they (criminals) are going to
exploit that gap."
Vitiello said the agency is looking at possible changes that would
impact overtime, including shifting to 10 hour shifts for four days a
week. No final decisions have been made.
Sharon Snellings, Customs and Border Protection's deputy assistant
commissioner of human resources, said agency officials also are
looking at shifting to another type of overtime system used by other
law enforcement agencies that she said could save the agency about
$70 million a year.
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano has said that her
department is constantly looking for ways to trim its multi-billion
budget.
"Every element of the federal government has an obligation to find
ways to do what we do more efficiently and in a more cost effective
manner," Napolitano said in a speech this past week. "We've been
looking for these ways for three years. It's everything ... it's
cutting down expenses related to procurement, it's doing certain
things with IT which are cutting the costs of that, it's eliminating
you know, subscriptions to unnecessary periodicals. We are finding
that we can get leaner and meaner. And we will continue to do that."
Napolitano did not mention cutting staff or spending for manpower.
Union president George McCubbin said the proposed changes don't "fit
the type of work that we do. It's more suited for investigations."
McCubbin said the current overtime system isn't perfect, but it does
ensure that agents are paid for the hours they work.
Bonner said such pay changes or a scheduling shift would amount a
substantial pay cut and mean hiring thousands of new agents to keep
the same level of enforcement at the border.
"You would sacrifice security for what amounts to a drop in the
bucket in the federal budget," Bonner said. "It's in exchange for
having a presence on the border. You would have to hire 25 percent of
the existing workforce to have the same coverage."
Bradley Schreiber, a former Homeland Security senior adviser and
current vice president for the Applied Science Foundation for
Homeland Security, said it's difficult to know if the Border Patrol's
overtime system is the most efficient because the government hasn't
come up with a clear strategy to measure the threat at the border and
respond appropriately.
"It's a circular question," Schreiber said. "Since there's no
assessment, how do you know ... does this make sense?"
Follow Alicia A. Caldwell at http://www.twitter.com/acaldwellap
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