Posted on 02/01/2009 10:31:26 PM PST by smokingfrog
One of my best buddies is a customs guy and yes I absolutely consider them sheepdogs! Let me ask you, just exactly who is the first guy on U.S. soil that a terrorist has to schmooze and get by when he tries to enter our country legally albeit covertly? The customs agent! This is the person who will use his or her training and his or her "nose" (gut, hunch, whatever) to tell him/herself that something isn't "right" with this guy. Customs Agents are literally the first line of homeland defense. You know what? They catch far more than we are told of. But anybody can be a sheepdog. It's something you choose to be inside yourself and then set about undertaking the appropriate behavior modifications and training to transform yourself into something that's... ~"more than meets the eye"~ Cue music....
as far as sitting at a table, checking incoming persons, yes, i can agree with that. i more meant, do you consider them someone who should be armed and physically involved with protecting our citizens, on par with border patrol, marshall service, etc?
Again, yes. They don't JUST man those stations at the terminal. They're also the guy checking the cargo holds and the railroad cars in remote locations. All of them should be armed all the time. You want a good example of a federal LEO who shouldn't be armed just look at the BATFE. Those are the guys who go to gunshops and harass CHECK law abiding dealers on their paperwork then haul them off to jail if literally the "t's" ain't crossed or the "i's" ain't dotted! The BATFE are the purest example of Jack Booted Thugs I mean ... er ... government sponsored wolves there is in the light of that essay.
thanks for the clarification, my experience with customs has been with ornery/ bored people sitting at a table randomly checking luggage as people went thru.
Hero alert! Way to go Agent!
Lurker here. Never registered before today.
First time I’ve felt the need to post.
I happen to know the agent involved. No, I won’t ID him.
Soft spoken, highly intelligent, dedicated, incredible integrity.
And sadly, probably in a heap of trouble. CBP has this habit of punishing these kinds of cases through lack of follow through. They’re called “Red Book” investigations, and they drag on, kept open long after a shooting is found to be justified: even heroic. Forget promotions.
My prayers are with.
An off-duty customs agent shopping at a west Houston liquor store shot and killed a man who attempted to rob the store Friday night, police said... The border patrol agent was wearing his uniform T-shirt and pants but also had on a civilian windbreaker at the time of the shooting, according to the agency. He was authorized, but not required, to carry a weapon when off duty.The dead perp must have been a Branch Davidian. /sarc
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