U.S. border agency to stop in LR on mission to expand its ranks
Posted on Wednesday, July 23, 2008
U. S. Customs and Border Protection will be in Little Rock on Saturday as part of a national recruiting drive, and local officials are wary that the federal agency might dip into the manpower pool for area agencies, which have recently had difficulty filling some positions and retaining experienced employees.
“We don’t like it, but we expect we may lose some people to it,” said Rogers Police Chief Steve Helms. “It’s always been that way.” The Border Patrol recruitment drive is part of “Operation Jump Start,” which President Bush announced in May 2006, to beef up border security by hiring 6, 000 agents by the end of the year. The program also sent National Guard troops to patrol the border. That program officially ended July 15.
The agency has approximately 16, 700 agents, said Tara Dunlop, spokesman for U. S. Customs and Border Protection. She said 1, 300 more agents are needed to reach the president’s mandate.
Despite the agency’s confidence in reaching its goal, Dunlop said recruitment is still ongoing.
“With an agency this size, our recruitment efforts are never-ending,” she said.
The recruiting event at the Holiday Inn Presidential Hotel on Interstate 30, which starts at 9 a. m., is one of six scheduled for Saturday. The others are in Memphis, Nashville, Knoxville, Baton Rouge and Louisville, Ky.
The agency is blanketing the nation so it can reach different types of people, especially women and members of minority groups, Dunlop said.
Its work force is only 5 percent female, and 1. 1 percent black. The agency wants its makeup to better reflect the American work force, she said.
Some Arkansas law enforcement agencies aren’t exactly welcoming the competition for employees.
“Do we want to see more people recruiting in our area ? No. We’d like to be the only one,” said Pulaski County sheriff’s office spokesman John Rehrauer.
The starting pay for U. S. Customs is between $ 36, 000 and $ 46, 000, and Rehrauer said he can see why some potential law enforcement officers might prefer that over the sheriff’s office starting deputy salary of $ 27, 692. But so far, he said the office has had more attrition to state agencies, rather than federal agencies.
The Crittenden County jail’s starting salary is about $ 19, 000, said administrator Zane Boyd. While he said U. S. Customs has been aggressive in offering new positions, no one has left a job at the jail to work for the agency. Instead of federal agencies, he said, his jail loses more people to local and state law enforcement.
“The jail is kind of like getting your foot in the door to do police work,” he said. “They’re just trying to advance themselves, and I understand.” The Rogers department has several officers who are proficient in Spanish and several more who have learned the language on the job or taught themselves, Helms said. Border Patrol officials are especially interested in bilingual recruits.
The reality is that the pool of candidates is the same for every agency, including the federal government, Helms said.
“We lose good cops all the time whether it be for pay or for personal reason,” he said. “It happens.” Even though U. S. Customs looks for applicants with law enforcement backgrounds, Dunlop said, the agency recruits heavily from the military and for the most part hire people with no specific law enforcement background.
She used a phrase that her boss, national recruiting director Joe Abbott, likes to say in reference to the many former military personnel.
“You can change your call sign,” she said, “but you can’t change your calling.” Information for this article was contributed by Adam Wallworth of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
FEEDBACK:
Something to say about this topic? Submit a Letter to the Editor online
