EL PASO, Texas (Border Report) — Law enforcement officials at all levels of government are employing technology to keep a bird’s-eye view of the border.
In South Texas, more aerostats — tethered blimps equipped with cameras and radar — have been popping up.
The aerostats are mostly Army surplus from the Afghanistan War but cost upwards of $400,000 a month each to operate. The cameras have a range of 25-40 miles, and the radars can detect movement as far as 200 miles away.
Border Report spotted a new aerostat in the rural border county of Zapata, a welcome sight for the county judge, who said he’d rather see a blimp than a border wall.
Farther west in Arizona, a sheriff plans to use drones to help his deputies patrol areas near the border.
Cochise County, where deputies often encounter smugglers while patrolling local and state highways, is teaming up with a private contractor to have drones up in the air by the fall.
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In this episode of Border Report Live, correspondents Julian Resendiz and Sandra Sanchez explain how this technology works and how the White House, as well as members of Congress, are on board with using drones to help protect the country’s borders.
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