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Observed and Perceived Inconsistencies in U.S. Border Inspections

  • Nicholas Dudley Ward , Patrick L Gurian , Josiah M. Heyman and Cheryl Howard
Published/Copyright: April 16, 2008
Journal of Homeland Security and Emergency Management
From the journal Journal of Homeland Security and Emergency Management Volume 5 Issue 1

Observations of traffic inspections at a U.S. land border port of entry in El Paso, TX indicate that the process is highly variable. In a series of 24 half-hour observation periods of ordinary non-commercial traffic, the average inspection duration ranged from 16.6 s to 56.6 s. The proportion of inspections which involved some physical search of the vehicle, as indicated by the inspector leaving the inspection booth, varied from 5% to 56% in different observation periods. In 4 out of 10 cases, the log-mean of inspection duration in simultaneous observations of parallel lanes of traffic differed significantly (p<0.05). This suggests that differences in inspector behavior are responsible for much of the variability of the inspection process. Similar results are found for the SENTRI program. A survey of public perception reveals that a majority of English-language respondents perceive the inspectors to be fair while a majority of Spanish-language respondents (both U.S. and Mexican citizens) perceive the process to be more arbitrary, as they state that fairness "depends on the inspector." Spanish-language respondents are also more likely to report having to submit to additional searches than English-language respondents. A common theme that emerges from the analysis of these two datasets is that efforts to standardize some aspects of inspections, while preserving inspector autonomy, may improve the performance of the process by eliminating variability which organized criminal groups may be able to exploit.

Keywords: border security; public perception
Published Online: 2008-4-16

©2011 Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co. KG, Berlin/Boston

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  9. The Economic Impacts of Dirty Bomb Attacks on the Los Angeles and Long Beach Ports: Applying the Supply-Driven NIEMO (National Interstate Economic Model)
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https://doi.org/10.2202/1547-7355.1324
Keywords for this article
border security; public perception

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Research Article
  2. Emergency Management: Implications from a Strategic Management Perspective
  3. Understanding Public Confidence in Government to Prevent Terrorist Attacks
  4. Assessing and Prioritizing Critical Assets for the United States Army with a Modified RFRM Methodology
  5. Potential Threats of Offshoring Software R&D: An Analysis of U.S.-Based Firms that Use "Common Criteria" Certification
  6. Observed and Perceived Inconsistencies in U.S. Border Inspections
  7. Classification of Phishers
  8. The Contributions of State Attorneys General to Homeland Security Matters
  9. The Economic Impacts of Dirty Bomb Attacks on the Los Angeles and Long Beach Ports: Applying the Supply-Driven NIEMO (National Interstate Economic Model)
  10. Collaboration and Homeland Security Preparedness: A Survey of U.S. City Managers
  11. Organizational Transformation: Impact of Redesigning the American Red Cross Disaster Services Human Resource System
  12. Planning for Pandemic Influenza: Lessons from the Experiences of Thirteen Indiana Counties
  13. Cost Minimization and Medical Examinations: The Case of Anthrax
  14. Mass Population Displacement under an Unclear Evacuation Policy during the Israel-Lebanon War 2006
  15. Evacuating Large Urban Areas: Challenges for Emergency Management Policies and Concepts
  16. Planning for Pet Evacuations during Disasters
  17. Evaluating Regional Contra-Flow and Phased Evacuation Strategies for Texas Using a Large-Scale Dynamic Traffic Simulation and Assignment Approach
  18. The Constitutional Roots of All-Hazards Policy, Management, and Law
  19. Pandemic Influenza Tabletop Exercises: A Primer for the Classroom and Beyond
  20. Longitudinal Evaluation of Food Safety Discussion-Based Exercises: Tool Development and Initial Validation
  21. Defining Terrorists' Information Requirements: The Modified Intelligence Preparation of the Battlefield (ModIPB) Framework
  22. Simulating the Economic Impacts of a Hypothetical Bio-Terrorist Attack: A Sports Stadium Case
  23. Disaster Management: The Structure, Function, and Significance of Network-Centric Operations
  24. Staff Management in Emergency Evacuation Preparedness and Response
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  26. The Use of Multi-Attribute Methods to Respond to a Nuclear Crisis
  27. Book Review
  28. Review of Measuring Vulnerability to Natural Hazards: Towards Disaster Resilient Societies
  29. Review of Understanding Terrorism: Analysis of Sociological and Psychological Aspects
  30. Review of Chronicles of Katrina: Lessons Learned from the Hurricane Katrina Disaster for your Home Preparedness Planning
  31. Review of Hazard Mitigation Investment Decision Making: Organizational Response to Legislative Mandate
  32. Review of Agroterrorism
  33. Review of: Protecting the Homeland 2006/2007
  34. Review of Principles of Incident Response and Disaster Recovery
  35. Review of Introduction to Emergency Management
  36. Review of Introduction to Emergency Management, 3rd Edition
  37. Review of Patrolling Cyberspace: Lessons Learned from a Lifetime in Data Security
  38. Review of America's Army: A Model for Interagency Effectiveness
  39. Review of The Culture of Calamity: Disasters and the Making of Modern America
  40. Review of Emergency Management: Principles and Practice for Local Government, Second Edition
  41. Review of Disaster Policy and Politics: Emergency Management and Homeland Security
  42. Review of Biosecurity & Bioterrorism: Containing and Preventing Biological Threats
  43. Review of Maritime Security: An Introduction
  44. Review of The Shock Doctrine; The Rise of Disaster Capitalism
  45. Review of In Their Own Words: Voices of Jihad, Compilation and Commentary
  46. Review of Risking House and Home: Disasters, Cities, Public Policy
  47. Review of The Mind of Jihad
  48. Review of Cyber Security: Economic Strategies and Public Policy Alternatives
  49. Review of Advances in Biological and Chemical Terrorism Countermeasures
  50. Review of The 9/11 Encyclopedia
  51. Review of From War to Democracy: Dilemmas of Peacemaking
  52. Review of The Unthinkable: Who Survives When Disaster Strikes -- and Why
  53. Review of Introduction to Homeland Security: Understanding Terrorism with an Emergency Management Perspective
  54. Review of Emergency Planning
  55. Communication/News
  56. Canine Remote Deployment System for Urban Search and Rescue
  57. Emergency Management Planning as Collaborative Community Work
  58. Toward a Theory of Homeland Security Nursing
  59. Happy Fifth Birthday to JHSEM
  60. Developing a New Curriculum in Sport Security Management
  61. Other
  62. Recent Research in Other Publications -- August 2008
  63. Comment on Cost Minimization and Medical Examinations: The Case of Anthrax
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