So I've had a fantastic time in Arizona, driving around the desert, viewing cactus, looking for likely places for Gappy's latest adventure to take place . . . but today surpassed all expectations.
I needed to do research on how police respond to calls and also what the U.S./Mexican border looks like in certain places. After inadvertently almost driving through the border and doing a U-turn just in time, I was driving around the border town of Nogales looking for the border fence where I could view it up close and was getting hopelessly lost driving around residential neighborhoods, up and down hills, and never seeming to get close. I had passed by City Hall at one point and figured that the police station was probably located there and maybe it would be simpler and more efficient to try to interview a police officer and ask some questions about the border too.
I went back to City Hall and, sure enough, there was the police station. I went in and introduced myself as a children's author researching for my seventh book and asked if I could ask someone some questions. I gave them my business card, but I thought the cops might be suspicious that maybe I was working for a drug lord, scoping out how things work at the border. However, they were cool, but they did take a photocopy of my driver's license and check me out first.
The shift supervisor (Rick) came out and offered to take me on a ride-along, during which he would answer questions and show me the border. I leapt at the chance and leapt into the passenger seat of his police SUV with alacrity. Actually, it was more like a heave and a climb into the SUV because it was so big and high up off of the ground.
First we drove to a street on a hill from which we could look down on the border fence and see Mexico on the other side. It was a weird feeling, seeing it for the first time. I couldn't believe I was actually looking at Mexico! And from a cop car, to boot!
After that, we drove down to the crossing point and almost drove through into Mexico but made a U-turn at the last minute. Rick explained how people and cars are inspected when and after they cross into the States. I was amazed that the 12-to-20-ish-foot-high border fence was made out of square, vertical, metal bars with quite wide spaces between them. Apparently it used to be a solid fence, like sheets of metal with no holes, but for aesthetic reasons, the powers-that-be, whoever they are, decided to replace them with the slatted fence. We could have bought a hot dog from Mexico by reaching through the fence. There really was a hot dog vendor right there on the other side, and I'm sure they would have been happy to sell us a hot dog.
The fence continues on, up and down hills and valleys, as far as I could see and the form of it changes in different locations. Various houses on both sides of the fence are suspected as being lookout points for the purpose of keeping an eye on happenings at the border fence for warning smugglers of both drugs and people and facilitating their passage. What an eerie feeling that was. Rick also told me all about the "coyotes" who are paid to smuggle them across and how they abuse and rob their charges. He was very empathetic towards the plight of the illegals and the suffering many of them have to endure, especially the women and children he has met.
We proceeded to drive through neighborhoods, both affluent and poor, which backed on to the border fence and Rick pointed out popular places where illegal aliens scale the fence and where drugs are delivered to the States in various forms and packaging, either thrown over or passed through to the other side. He told me about night raids by flashlight in the gullies and sandy washes between the hills, what the cops do when they come across people who they suspect to be illegal aliens, how they coordinate sightings with border patrol, etc.
I was surprised to learn that Nogales is one of the safest cities in the States to live. It only has one or two homicides per year, which makes some of the neighborhoods around where I live in the Northeast look like real crime hotspots. Part of the reason is the size of the police and border patrol presence. At several strategic points along the route were parked big white and green border patrol SUVs, keeping an eye on the fence with the aid of huge lights, cameras, infra red devices, etc. Apparently most illegal aliens are respectful to the police and do what they are told when caught. Another reason is that drugs are much less valuable right at the border. They increase tremendously in value the farther into the States they go, and the danger and violence grow exponentially.
Throughout the drive, Rick was also monitoring his radio and dispensing instructions to patrol officers. At one point when I wondered aloud what the outcome of a call involving a crying baby was, he got on the radio to find out who had responded to the call and what the status was. I felt really honored that he would do that for me - a non-cop, civilian! I was concerned that I was taking up too much of Rick's time but he assured me that he was having fun. Certainly, when he woke up that morning, he had no idea that he would be giving a ride to a children's author and coolly discussing vampires, magical powers, border fencing and police procedures while sitting on a hilltop overlooking Mexico.
All in all it was a great experience and I'm very grateful to Rick for being so obliging and informative. I look forward to sending his children a set of my books, once I get back home.
I needed to do research on how police respond to calls and also what the U.S./Mexican border looks like in certain places. After inadvertently almost driving through the border and doing a U-turn just in time, I was driving around the border town of Nogales looking for the border fence where I could view it up close and was getting hopelessly lost driving around residential neighborhoods, up and down hills, and never seeming to get close. I had passed by City Hall at one point and figured that the police station was probably located there and maybe it would be simpler and more efficient to try to interview a police officer and ask some questions about the border too.
I went back to City Hall and, sure enough, there was the police station. I went in and introduced myself as a children's author researching for my seventh book and asked if I could ask someone some questions. I gave them my business card, but I thought the cops might be suspicious that maybe I was working for a drug lord, scoping out how things work at the border. However, they were cool, but they did take a photocopy of my driver's license and check me out first.
The shift supervisor (Rick) came out and offered to take me on a ride-along, during which he would answer questions and show me the border. I leapt at the chance and leapt into the passenger seat of his police SUV with alacrity. Actually, it was more like a heave and a climb into the SUV because it was so big and high up off of the ground.
First we drove to a street on a hill from which we could look down on the border fence and see Mexico on the other side. It was a weird feeling, seeing it for the first time. I couldn't believe I was actually looking at Mexico! And from a cop car, to boot!
After that, we drove down to the crossing point and almost drove through into Mexico but made a U-turn at the last minute. Rick explained how people and cars are inspected when and after they cross into the States. I was amazed that the 12-to-20-ish-foot-high border fence was made out of square, vertical, metal bars with quite wide spaces between them. Apparently it used to be a solid fence, like sheets of metal with no holes, but for aesthetic reasons, the powers-that-be, whoever they are, decided to replace them with the slatted fence. We could have bought a hot dog from Mexico by reaching through the fence. There really was a hot dog vendor right there on the other side, and I'm sure they would have been happy to sell us a hot dog.
The fence continues on, up and down hills and valleys, as far as I could see and the form of it changes in different locations. Various houses on both sides of the fence are suspected as being lookout points for the purpose of keeping an eye on happenings at the border fence for warning smugglers of both drugs and people and facilitating their passage. What an eerie feeling that was. Rick also told me all about the "coyotes" who are paid to smuggle them across and how they abuse and rob their charges. He was very empathetic towards the plight of the illegals and the suffering many of them have to endure, especially the women and children he has met.
We proceeded to drive through neighborhoods, both affluent and poor, which backed on to the border fence and Rick pointed out popular places where illegal aliens scale the fence and where drugs are delivered to the States in various forms and packaging, either thrown over or passed through to the other side. He told me about night raids by flashlight in the gullies and sandy washes between the hills, what the cops do when they come across people who they suspect to be illegal aliens, how they coordinate sightings with border patrol, etc.
I was surprised to learn that Nogales is one of the safest cities in the States to live. It only has one or two homicides per year, which makes some of the neighborhoods around where I live in the Northeast look like real crime hotspots. Part of the reason is the size of the police and border patrol presence. At several strategic points along the route were parked big white and green border patrol SUVs, keeping an eye on the fence with the aid of huge lights, cameras, infra red devices, etc. Apparently most illegal aliens are respectful to the police and do what they are told when caught. Another reason is that drugs are much less valuable right at the border. They increase tremendously in value the farther into the States they go, and the danger and violence grow exponentially.
Throughout the drive, Rick was also monitoring his radio and dispensing instructions to patrol officers. At one point when I wondered aloud what the outcome of a call involving a crying baby was, he got on the radio to find out who had responded to the call and what the status was. I felt really honored that he would do that for me - a non-cop, civilian! I was concerned that I was taking up too much of Rick's time but he assured me that he was having fun. Certainly, when he woke up that morning, he had no idea that he would be giving a ride to a children's author and coolly discussing vampires, magical powers, border fencing and police procedures while sitting on a hilltop overlooking Mexico.
All in all it was a great experience and I'm very grateful to Rick for being so obliging and informative. I look forward to sending his children a set of my books, once I get back home.
RSS Feed