As per the Office of Border Patrol, the nineteen week Border Patrol Academy will soon be only eleven weeks long.  This announcement should come as no surprise to active Border Patrol Agents who are observing the rapid degradation of the Border Patrol under the direction of Chief David Aguilar.  For agents who work in the field, the negative impacts of this shortened Academy are obvious.  For those who are running this Agency into the ground, the negative impacts are of no concern because they will continue to promote or advance in their political careers and presumably receive a generous bonus for pushing 6,000 new recruits through the Academy by the end of 2008.

In an article that appeared in the Washington Times on August 10, 2007, Kent Lundgren, President of the National Association of Former Border Patrol Officers (NAFBPO) expressed doubts about the Border Patrol's ability to train 6,000 agents in such a short time.  Shortly thereafter, Chief Aguilar invited members from NAFBPO and the Fraternal Order of Retired Border Patrol Officers (FORBPO) to the Academy for a presentation about the training.  Both associations accepted the invitation, and Lundgren wrote an article about the trip, which appears in the latest FORBPO newsletter "The Borderline".  He explained that the Office of Border Patrol funded their travel to the Academy[1]. He said the presentation was given by Chief Aguilar and Chief Whitmire, and five sector Chief Patrol Agents were present to answer questions.  He declared that NAFBPO mistakenly misjudged the Academy training and as a result of their free trip, NAFBPO now endorsed the shortened Academy. 

The Academy training was also recently debated with Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Commissioner Ralph Basham during a muster at the Murrieta Border Patrol Station.  In response to complaints about the Academy, Commissioner Basham defended the shortened Academy and said, "The training that goes on in law enforcement does not happen at the Academy".  Local 1613 recognizes that training occurs in the field, but we absolutely disagree with Commissioner Basham's statement. 

In response, Local 1613 conducted a cursory review of academies for several major police departments in the United States.  Since Local 1613 represents agents assigned to the San Diego Sector, we included several major police departments from California.  In addition, we included at all of the police departments from the top ten populated cities in the United States.

In reviewing the list, one immediately notices that all of the academies are at least 50% longer than the eleven-week Border Patrol Academy.  More importantly, 17 out of 20 academies are twice as long as the new Border Patrol Academy. None of these departments include Spanish in their curriculum so any argument related to Spanish is irrelevant for this comparison. 

Note:  The source of the information can be viewed by clicking on the name of the department.

California Departments (listed alphabetically):

• California Highway Patrol - approximately 6 month academy

• Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department - 18 week academy

• Los Angeles Police Department - 7 month academy

• Orange County Sheriff's Department - 28 week academy

• Riverside County Sheriff's Department - 23 week academy

• San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department - 23 week academy

• San Diego County Sheriff's Department - 25 week academy

• San Diego Police Department - 6 month academy

• San Jose Police Department - 24 week academy

• San Francisco Police Department - 28 week academy

• For other POST Academies within California, visit the website for the California Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training

Other Police Departments (listed alphabetically):

• Boston Police Department - 27 week academy

• Chicago Police Department - 19.5 week academy

• Dallas Police Department - 32 week academy

• El Paso Police Department - 26 week academy

• Houston Police Department - 24 week academy

• New York Police Department - 6 month academy

• Phoenix Police Department - 18 week academy

• Philadelphia Police Department - 30 week academy

• San Antonio Police Department - 27 week academy

• U.S. Secret Service - 27 weeks at two separate academies (Secret Service included because of Commissioner Basham's service with the Secret Service).

When the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) was proposed, politicians debated eliminating civil service provisions because they erroneously blamed the Unions for the failing Agencies and policies. Ironically, the National Border Patrol Council (NBPC) had no part in the creation of the National Border Patrol Strategy or any of the policies that restrict a Border Patrol Agent in performing his/her duties, nor did the NBPC have a role in shortening the Academy and providing less training to new recruits.  Since DHS was created, the NBPC has been the only entity within DHS to oppose: amnesty, the legalization of illegal aliens, the National Border Patrol Strategy, the lack of interior enforcement, and the political prosecution of Agents Ramos and Compean.  On the other hand, Chief Aguilar spoke in favor of legalizing illegal aliens, continues to promote a failing strategy, spoke in favor of the political prosecution of Agent Ramos and Compean, and like Commissioner Basham, promoted the shortened Academy.  He even had the audacity to go around to Border Patrol Stations and explain to Border Patrol Agents how legalizing illegal aliens will be beneficial to the Border Patrol.  In doing so, he used an irrational political argument that legalizing illegal aliens will reduce the flow of people attempting to illegally enter the United States. 

In the past few years, many politicians have mistakenly referred to Border Patrol Agents as “border guards”.  One must wonder if their reference to Border Patrol Agents as “border guards” represents a Freudian slip.  It is rather obvious that the Border Patrol and the National Border Patrol Strategy are extremely ineffective and are failing miserably in terms of preventing illegal entries into the country.  However, for a politician who is protecting greedy corporations who benefit from cheap labor and who contribute an enormous amount of money to political campaigns, the benefits of having “border guards” instead of Border Patrol Agents is proving useful.  The current "border guard" philosophy of the National Border Patrol Strategy is also beneficial for the politician who is looking for a way to justify “privatizing” the border and throwing taxpayer money in to the pockets of other U.S. corporation like DynCorp.  Is it possible that this shortened Academy will make it easier in the future to reclassify Border Patrol Agents as “border guards”?

Considering the changes to the Border Patrol in the past decade and more importantly the changes in the past few years under Chief Aguilar, one could conclude that the shortened Academy is intended to reflect the lack of emphasis on law enforcement in today’s Border Patrol.  When Commissioner Basham responded to criticism about the shortened Academy, he acknowledged certain aspects of the training program were revisited.  He even specifically mentioned the firearms and driver’s training programs and said they were not affected, but one must question the validity of this statement, especially after reviewing the above lists of academies.  

Local 1613 considered this issue and thought it might be useful to point out the changes that most likely would be made to the Academy under the direction of Chief Aguilar ^[2]:

• Driver’s training significantly reduced to reflect the current Border Patrol pursuit policy and interpretation of policy by management officials which has resulted in pursuits being prohibited. 

In the new course, trainees will learn how Assistant Chief Patrol Agent Steven Kean, San Diego Sector, testified during arbitration that Border Patrol Agents are prohibited from pursuing a suspect who attempts to run over an agent because “the threat has passed.”  Trainees will learn how to determine when “the threat has passed”, which according to ACPA Steve Kean is just about every time a smuggler, illegal aliens, potential terrorist, etc. fails to yield to Border Patrol Agents.  Trainees will learn the proper procedures for yielding to smugglers and criminals who pose a threat to the United States.

A bonus portion of this course includes how “it is a violation of Border Patrol regulations to go after someone who is fleeing,” as determined by Debra Kanof, Assistant U.S. Attorney who prosecuted Border Patrol Agents Ramos and Compean[3].   This statement was never challenged by anyone within the chain of command for the Border Patrol.

• Immigration Law and Statutory Law courses reduced to match the current enforcement standards, which amount to very little.

• Training related to interior patrol eliminated since an overwhelming majority of agents are now restricted by policies, not laws, that were implemented by management, not the Union, from performing interior patrol.

• Training on how to survive in prison and how to support your family while in prison should be added.  This training is imperative since so many innocent Border Patrol Agents have been maliciously prosecuted at the direction of the Mexican government, and with the assistance of U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton and Chief David Aguilar[4].  

• Training on how to effectively manage a family while being away from your family for a significant portion of the year.  This portion of the academy will be devoted to helping agents realize that their family is not as important as the failing strategy.  In this course, trainees will learn the probabilities of being detailed far away from their family a couple of times a year, each time being 45 days or more, in support of a strategy that only displaces illegal entries from one area of the border to another, but does very little to stop the flow of people illegally entering the United States.

Training for the following non-enforcement positions should be added:

• Public Information Officer training since these positions result in a significant number of promotions to higher grade positions within the Border Patrol. 

• Training related to desk jobs within the Office of Border Patrol since that office now has over 200 agents assigned to it.

• Instructor training to reflect the current staffing at the Academy, which as of September 12, 2007, was one experienced Border Patrol Agent on staff for every three trainees[5].  In addition, courses under this category will include training on how to effectively manage a family while being away from the family for ten months out of the year.

• Supervisory and management training courses to match the steadily increasing number of supervisory positions.

• Construction skills (welding, carpentry, etc.) and heavy equipment operating so that trainees can arrive at their new station prepared to build and fix fences and walls that are required under the current failing strategy.

• Detention and Transportation training because Border Patrol Agents are forced to serve as Detention and Enforcement Officers (DEO) instead of patrolling the border.

• Of course, we would not want to forget the important training related to serving as a pit crew for a NASCAR race.

• Considering the pit crew training, they probably need to add bench warmer training to attend the Dallas Cowboy events on behalf of the Border Patrol.

In all seriousness, the negative impacts of this shortened academy are going to be devastating to the new recruit who is not prepared to handle a situation because of the lack of training he/she received at the Academy.  It is also going to be devastating to his/her fellow agents when the recruit is unable to properly assist them or perform their duties.  When that occurs, there will probably be a new political appointee serving as the Commissioner, who like the current and former Commissioners, will not even know the basics of the Immigration and Nationality Act, will not understand the statutory authority of Border Patrol Agents, and will not recognize the problem with an eleven-week academy.  The only hope is for a new Chief of the Border Patrol who stops the degradation of the Border Patrol; who advocates on behalf of the Border Patrol and Border Patrol Agents; and who symbolizes the Border Patrol motto “Honor First”. 

Please refer all questions pertaining to this report to Chris Bauder, President, NBPC - Local 1613.