Updates from the Field...
Last night I had the pleasure of eating dinner with some old friends and some new ones. A variety of CBP Officers from Journeymen to Supervisors from all over the country. The refrain was the same from all, unhappiness in how business is being conducted. Not unhappiness with the job, but at not being able to do the job because of the bureaucrats and their push for mediocrity.
Assigning new Officers to man radiation portal monitors for up to two years and the fact that this task is requiring up to fifty percent of their manpower, leaving very few Officers left to conduct enforcement operations. This harmony was the same from all environments- land, sea, and air. Overtime is plentiful due to the RPMs staffing requirements.
The same can be said for assigning new hires to work primary for a couple of years at the airports. You take these young Officers full of enthusiasm and motivation and stick them in these duties and you might as well invite them to look for other employment challenges... and this is exactly what is happening. These people signed up for a law enforcement career and are being relegated to stampers and RPM baby sitters, that is why our retention rates are so bad. We continue to lose Officers right out of the Academy to other agencies.
I don't see any light at the end of the tunnel except for the train. Unless something is done, CBP will be full of old people that can't move to other agencies and are less than able to fulfill the duties of the CBP Officer. When some ports are losing 60 to 80 people a year, you would think somebody in the ivory towers would take notice.
They just keep sending new people to be trained, with the way things are going, I wonder who will conduct the training.
BT
Assigning new Officers to man radiation portal monitors for up to two years and the fact that this task is requiring up to fifty percent of their manpower, leaving very few Officers left to conduct enforcement operations. This harmony was the same from all environments- land, sea, and air. Overtime is plentiful due to the RPMs staffing requirements.
The same can be said for assigning new hires to work primary for a couple of years at the airports. You take these young Officers full of enthusiasm and motivation and stick them in these duties and you might as well invite them to look for other employment challenges... and this is exactly what is happening. These people signed up for a law enforcement career and are being relegated to stampers and RPM baby sitters, that is why our retention rates are so bad. We continue to lose Officers right out of the Academy to other agencies.
I don't see any light at the end of the tunnel except for the train. Unless something is done, CBP will be full of old people that can't move to other agencies and are less than able to fulfill the duties of the CBP Officer. When some ports are losing 60 to 80 people a year, you would think somebody in the ivory towers would take notice.
They just keep sending new people to be trained, with the way things are going, I wonder who will conduct the training.
BT
posted by Border Train at 9:38 PM
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