Border Patrol Training Academy criticized by Union for background investigation flaws

By Arthur H. Rotstein
Associated Press

The Border Patrol agents' union is criticizing hiring and training shortcuts they say the agency is making as it seeks to double in size before President Bush leaves office.

The union says the Border Patrol has dropped minimum educational requirements and is deferring background investigations for new hires, among other changes they say are hurting the agency.

The National Border Patrol Council said in a report released June 24 that the patrol recently dropped educational requirements that called for applicants to have at least a high school diploma or a high school equivalency certificate.
"This relaxation of standards is a matter of concern," the report said.

President Bush announced a crash hiring program to add 6,000 more Border Patrol agents in 2006, with the goal of bringing the number of sworn agents to 18,000 by the end of this year.

The council's report noted that there was anecdotal and other evidence suggesting a small percentage of new hires had only middle-school reading comprehension and writing abilities.

It deplored that as "completely unacceptable," particularly where documents that are poorly written could end up "in miscommunication of critical information and botched prosecutions."

Border Patrol spokesman Lloyd Easterling in Washington said the agency takes agents' concerns seriously, but also said neither criticism is a major issue and suggested that neither was correct.

He said the Border Patrol never has had a high school diploma or equivalency requirement. The requirement was purposely taken out after World War I to allow returning soldiers to apply, he said.

He said only 32 of more than 16,000 agents currently do not have a high school diploma or its equivalent, while nearly 12,000 have taken some college courses or graduated, he said.

T.J. Bonner, president of the union, said the agency's academy in Artesia, N.M. is no longer testing candidates' writing skills.

"We have had some of the instructors share some of the work product, some of the memos that new recruits have given; it's appalling," Bonner said. "They can't put a coherent sentence together and we say we're going to rely on this individual to write an arrest report and rely on that for a prosecution? Good luck."

Easterling said recruits go through the academy to learn law enforcement, physical, report-writing and other techniques. "More times than not they're inexperienced," he said.

"Report writing, sign-cutting, things like that, those are things they're going to learn in the field with job experience" and from senior agents.

The council also took the agency to task for deferring background investigations of applicants and settling for a criminal history check and polygraph.

Easterling also said that detailed background investigations are begun before candidate agents begin going through the academy.

The union report said thorough background investigation of new hires' character and history should be done before hiring.

"This is usually one of the first areas where shortcuts are taken when law enforcement agencies undergo rapid expansion," the report said. "Unfortunately, the Border Patrol has also succumbed to that pressure."

The report also said the agency has been using contractors to do the reviews for the past decade, rather than FBI special agents, leading to some corrupt agents sipping into the ranks.

Easterling defended the process and the contractors. He said the initial background investigations for the Border Patrol are the same as for any national law enforcement candidate. Even more detailed checks are done as the agent goes through the academy.

"You never can eliminate the possibility of error in any portion of the employment process," Easterling said, acknowledging that a few bad apples have made it through the academy and into the field before being discovered.

Bonner also said that several of the people involved in gathering information for the report had "a far-reaching discussion" with Border Patrol Chief David Aguilar in March.

"He promised to look into some of the concerns we brought up," Bonner said.

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