New Strategic Plan Summary for Customs and Border Patrol - Essay Example

The current enforcement policy presumes that all goods and all travellers are guilty until such time as they prove otherwise. Thus clearance at US borders is based on interrogations and inspections that are quite often unnecessary. In this regard, resources are being wasted on legitimate goods and legitimate travellers when those resources would be better spent inspecting and interrogating unlawful goods, unauthorized travellers and security threats whether in the form of persons or goods.

It is also believed that CBP’s community engagement initiatives are far too institutional and does not devote enough resources and time to forging relationships with the community. There is a need for CBP to actively engage members of the community as a means of ensuring that they build a sense of confidence in the CBP’s mission and goals and support it. There is a need to change the current practice of communicating what CBP is doing and what CBP has done or will do in terms of keeping US borders safe.

While there is a need to continue to reassure the public via transparency via communication, there is also a need to open up the lines of communication so that CBP gets information from the community. The community provides a rich source of information relative to where illegal immigrants, international criminals and terrorists and contraband originate from and where they go once they enter the US. The strategic plan in this report therefore proposes to reconceptualise customs and border patrol with a view to changing the enforcement-focused approach to border security.

While enforcement is always necessary it is not the only method for keeping US borders safe. When time and resources are managed more appropriately US borders will be safer. Thus the strategic plan suggests training officers to identify more accurately travellers and goods that are candidates for quick clearance so that CBP officers can direct their attention to the more serious security risks. Therefore the strategic plan calls for a dual strategy: accommodating legitimate travellers and lawful goods; enforcement and deterrence of unlawful travellers, criminals and terrorists.

The strategic plan also calls for training agents and officers to be more capable of recognizing and responding to security threats in instances where travellers or goods are legitimate and should be cleared for entry. There are cases where a traveller has the requisite travel documents but is entering the US for criminal or terrorist reasons. Rather than inspecting all visitors and going on what amounts to a fishing expedition, officers should be specifically trained to know when it is appropriate to interrogate a traveller or conduct a more invasive search of goods.

The strategic plan also calls for assigning agents to community relations and this involves maintaining a tip line for receiving anonymous tips from members of the public. It is important that members of the community feel involved in the security process as they will be more inclined to cooperate and to share important information with the CBP.