hobbes79

The show seems to be making them look more and more ridiculous by the minute...

Highlights this week:

1. Stopped someone with a sandwich and fined him $300... take that al qaeda!
2. Stopped someone going too fast on a jet-ski (what does that have to do with Homeland Security? no idea)
3. Stopped a disorientated American from entering the country... he was odd, but stupid that was considered a highlight.
4. Did a drug bust but lost the actual criminals... oops
5. Stopped someone with a belt buckle that looked like a gun and had them send it back home in an envelope... cosmic
6. Stopped an illegal at the US/Canada border who kinda had a point when he said he was actually trying to get from the US into Canada... not the other way round... he was LEAVING!?
7. Stopped the bloke who was the breakthrough in the Holloway murder case, but wouldn't let him in the country due to a 14 year old drug conviction.

The only thing they did of any benefit was stop a handful of Mexicans from crossing the border.

I don't know though... just seemed to make them look like a bit of a joke for most of it!

another bloody yank

Well there goes the propaganda theory...

Giantaxe

Cripes, I once got my bags sniffed by one of their canines and they found an apple at the bottom of my backpack. I would have been more than pissed to get fined $300 for what was a genuine oversight on my part. But good to see my anti-terrorism tax dollars are being used so wisely

mellybrown

I felt sorry for the guy with the sandwich!!

Ray

Sfunny.. it was an orange he got fined the $300 for on my TV

Mummy in the foothills

So did I. He'll never take another of his Mums sarnies to the airport again, poor guy. It was ridiculous.
I'm pretty sure I've entered with left overs still in the bag from my kids, when my Mum has fed them on the way to the airport too.

Poppy girl

Yep so did I personally I think he was used as a scap goat for the film crew on the show that day, just was not his lucky day.

I did have a some box's of chocolates distroyed at Sydney airport once

I thought it was a sandwich, didn't he say his mummy made it for him that day, to take with him!

hobbes79

The fine was for not declaring he had food. He had a sandwich AND an orange... take your pick. Either way, fairly absurd for an honest mistake.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFt8nFH4Ydc

Michael

I think I would start thinking pretty hard about what I had in my suitcase if I saw a dog sniffing my suitcase. Even if he said "maybe his mother packed a sandwich in the suitcase", he probably wouldn't have been fined but he said he didn't have any food. However, it was obvious that he forgot so he probably shouldn't have been fined.

NC Penguin

Based on the description of the contents of the show, the Homeland Security USA show makes Cops look highbrow.

lapin_windstar

In Soviet Russia, Homeland Security catches you!

</yakov smirnoff>

Michelmas

Wow you're a sensationalist aren't you? Are you a journalist, becuase you seem to be taking specific examples out of context to make them look worse than they are.
To answer your points with my thoughts [sorry for the long post]


"1. Stopped someone with a sandwich and fined him $300... take that al qaeda!"
This has nothing to do with Al Qaeda and everything to do with the agriculture of the US. Bear in mind this guy was a frequent traveller and specifically said that he didn't have anything to declare on his I-94. The $300 fine was obviously enough [compared to the maximum $50,000 it could be] as the guy was crying and won't make that mistake again. If the guy was carrying some sandwich which was later identified to be infected with some bug which would be harmful to US specific plants, would the womans / Beagles job be worthwhile then?

"2. Stopped someone going too fast on a jet-ski (what does that have to do with Homeland Security? no idea)"
Homeland security were just in the area and happened to see some guy driving his jetski recklessly in a [no wake] area that had manitees around. He was endangering these defenceless animals and they were right to step in. As well as being Homeland security, they have the same responsibility as the regular police force.

"3. Stopped a disorientated American from entering the country... he was odd, but stupid that was considered a highlight."
This was a mexican who spoke no english who atempted to walk through the car lanes at border control and had no ID on him at all. His story was mixed and muddled [wasn't shore if he was seeing his grandma, granpa or uncles] and needed to be verified using his DMV licence picture. This was good work on the gaurds side but a complete waste of there time because the idiot had no ID.

"4. Did a drug bust but lost the actual criminals... oops"
Sometime that happens, but when they are chasing a boat full of drugs and 2 criminals over the water and land, at night from a helicopter, it can't be easy. There capture rate must better than there escape rate though

"5. Stopped someone with a belt buckle that looked like a gun and had them send it back home in an envelope... cosmic"
They didn't tell anyone they were carrying it and it was picked up with X-ray in there carry on luggage and there other bags had already been checked. How stupid is that. They said it was realistic enough that if they took it out on the plane, it could be mistaken for a real one and who knows what would happen then. if they ended up being shot by an air marshall, I'm sure you'd be the first to say "why were they allowed to take it on board". They will always be given the option of mailing it or throwing it away. they chose to mail it becuase there $17 buckle looked "cool".

"6. Stopped an illegal at the US/Canada border who kinda had a point when he said he was actually trying to get from the US into Canada... not the other way round... he was LEAVING!?"
He was refused entry into Canada and as such was re-entering the US. As it turned out a further investigation found he was guilty of visa and marriage fraud and was subject to a deportation order back to Turkey. He was staying in the US illegally. The border gaurds went out of there way to help him by deporting him to Canada, which is where he wanted to go and not to Turkey. They then continued helping him when he was refused entry a 2nd time and returned to the US again when he didn't have sufficient funds to immigrate to Canada by letting his brother bring him the remainder he needed.

"7. Stopped the bloke who was the breakthrough in the Holloway murder case, but wouldn't let him in the country due to a 14 year old drug conviction."
They refused him entry when he failed to declare his convictions. And remember, his conviction was for dealing cocaine. Read the details of how he supposedly got this breakthrough in the case, by smoking lots of weed and agreeing to grow and sell marijuana with the suspect. Do you seriously think he is a reformed character?



"I don't know though... just seemed to make them look like a bit of a joke for most of it"


I think it showed that they have so much varied stuff to deal with on a daily basis that they'll never get on top of it all and they are doing there best.

And no, I have no particular love of affilitaion with them, and i have had my own share of run ins with them at various POE and agree some of them can and are petty. What does infuriate me more though are those who paraphrase, miss-quote and generally twist the facts around to there own devices. Give all the details of all of the events and let people make up there own mind.

Please understand that I mean no offence to you with this response, but if there's one thing that I have learnt from this and other sites in this vein, it is that ALL of the facts should be presented upfront to allow an informed decision / response to be made.
Rant off.

hobbes79

In response to the above...

1. It appeared like a genuine mistake though. Not sure a $300 was warranted. A severe telling off I would imagine would have done the job. I'm not questioning the worth of removing the food... just making some poor kid hand over 300 bucks.

2. Yes, but the show is "Homeland Security USA"... not "Manitee Security USA". I've got nothing against the creatures, but it's sad that was a highlight for them that warranted air time! I'll watch Animal Planet if I was interested in that.

3. "This was a mexican who spoke no english"... sorry, you're wrong. He was a USC that spoke plenty of English, all be it with a foreign accent... much like myself. That's why he was allowed in despite having no ID... a USC has the right to enter the US.

4. Granted. Though 2, presumably illegals, just went straight on to US land.

5. I'm not questioning the need to take away something that could be confused with a gun. But again, that's a highlight? Enough to justify 5-mins of primetime? Just doesn't help me take them too seriously!

6. Fair enough.

7. Just not sure a fellow heading to Larry King was a threat to Homeland Security.

I think the general impression I personally have is that the threats to US Homeland Security are massively exaggerated, often to justify entirely unnecessary processes and precedures that threaten certain civil liberties.

I personally didn't see anything in that 60-min show involving soggy sandwiches, belt buckles and manitees, to make me change my mind.

CitySimon

Wait a second... There's a TV program called Homeland Security USA??

Shows how much TV I watch.

Ray

The Coast Guard is part of Homeland security
And Manatees are vulnerable to extinction .. I consider
that very important