Scare sends border guards off job

[Cameron]

Word that an "armed and dangerous" fugitive might be heading for Canada sent customs guards packing and caused huge backlogs at the border.

Agents walked off the job yesterday afternoon when armed police were deployed at the border in Ontario. Witnesses said shotgun-wielding officers were stationed at the Niagara Falls crossing and tactical officers appeared at the Fort Erie crossing.

Article

So we have border guards that are scared for their lives and walking off the job...nice. I don't know who to blame here...but it's your job to watch the border.

[Hawk]

Word that an "armed and dangerous" fugitive might be heading for Canada sent customs guards packing and caused huge backlogs at the border.

Agents walked off the job yesterday afternoon when armed police were deployed at the border in Ontario. Witnesses said shotgun-wielding officers were stationed at the Niagara Falls crossing and tactical officers appeared at the Fort Erie crossing.

Article

So we have border guards that are scared for their lives and walking off the job...nice. I don't know who to blame here...but it's your job to watch the border.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Blame the people that refuse to equip them in a manner that they can actually guard our country's border =p

[PocketRocket]

I gotta go with HAWK on this one.

Our border guards should be armed to the teeth.

Gloks, bulletproof vests, UZI's, the works.

Not to mention towers with snipers, just to be on the safe side.

And the training to go with it. Military-style training.

And higher pay.

Apparently our border security is the lowest-paid segment of any Canadian law-enforcement agency.

Oh yeah, almost forgot to mention.

Dogs. Big nasty, well-trained attack dogs.

If it comes to a shoot-out at a border station, a dog can give a guard the edge.

Kind of hard to concentrate on drawing a bead on a guy, when his 100-lb mastiff is bearing down on you and will be at your throat within 2 seconds.

[mcqueen625]

The sad fact is that many of those so-called Customs Officers were hired more for their ability to parle-vois, than for their ability as properly trained peace officers. To become a police officer in this country you cannot just walk in off the streets and take a few tests including language proficiency testing, you actually have to attend and pass a course at a recognized police training facility like the RCMP or Holland College in PEI, and I'm sure Ontario and other jurisdictions have their own police training facilities. My point is that Customs Officers are hired with virtually no formal training in police procedures, weapons, and self defence, therefore I would be very leary to hand out arms to these people.

Maybe the answer is that we hire our Customs Officers after they have completed a recognized police training facility. Only then would I feel comfortable in arming this branch of the Federal Government. I say that because the son of a co-worker with my wife was hired to work as a Custom's Officer on a term placement, and his qualifications consisted of the fact that he could speak French, and he had a year or so of university under his belt, but absolutely no training or experience in the field of police work. Nice kid, but would I trust him enough to arm him? Not in this lifetime.

[theloniusfleabag]

Dear PocketRocket,

I gotta go with HAWK on this one.

Our border guards should be armed to the teeth.

Gloks, bulletproof vests, UZI's, the works.

Not to mention towers with snipers, just to be on the safe side.

And the training to go with it. Military-style training.

And higher pay.

I gotta disagree. that type of funding would be misplaced. We need more inspections/inspectors, not 'more heavily armed' ones. I coould not access the story, but it sounds dubious to me. If it is true, those customs agents should be fired.

Customs guards have the most sweeping powers of any 'enforcement agency' in the country. They can search and detain without warrants or probable cause, suspicion alone is good enough. They are trained in arrest and weapons tactics (a friend of mine just got back from this training course in Winnipeg ) including tasers, pepper spray (the person I know got a faceful in training, like the police and the military), and the ubiquitous Glock. It is the sheer volume of the inspection work that is the problem.

It is a greater risk that someone passes undetected than someone putting up a fight.

[losiguy]

n

[Big Blue Machine]

They don't need guns. That's why there are the police officers. If they have a gun at their post, the chances of them being shot are higher. My dad says so, he was a customs officer for about 3 years.