Trouble at IMB

I sometimes forget that we work in a field that is often confusing to the general public and those that have not been exposed to law enforcement for very long. For lack of a better term our jobs and our personalities are alien to them. I have always hoped however that all of us who wear the green would be able to look out for one another, not create problems out of nowhere.

For over a decade I have had the distinct privilege of serving at the Imperial Beach Border Patrol Station. Some of the finest Americans I will ever know have made their ways through the doors of this station, along with some of the most demoralizing people I have ever met.

Imperial Beach has undergone some significant changes over the past several years. Much of this has to do with the changes in leadership. For too long the IB station was allowed to languish under the "Do Nothing" regimes of PAICs Arnie Forsyth and Dave Brown. It seemed they were more concerned with counting the days until retirement than with managing their station or checking on morale. The relationship with the union was contentious due to a few Field Operations Supervisors operating on their own and doing all they could to suck the will to work from the troops. While these two PAICs passed through a change was occurring in the amount of alien traffic. Smugglers were realizing that less and less agents were on the line and instead of going to the desert they could push their groups through in IB fairly effectively. But IB management tried what has now proved to be a failing strategy of doing more with less agents.

In 2005 Raleigh Leonard became the PAIC of IB. I have known Raleigh Leonard since I was a trainee since he was my Field Training Officer. I believed he would do many things to improve the work conditions at IB. On that account I turned out to be right...and wrong. PAIC Leonard allowed his agents to work and morale definitely improved. There was open communication between the station management and the union. Problems were solved with a phone call instead of grievances. But alien traffic continued to increase and the assaults on agents were through the roof, all while operating with a near record low amount of agents.

I believe that overall PAIC Leonard did more good than bad for IB. But in 2006 IB took over the area from the ocean to the Otay Mesa Port of Entry. I sat in a meeting where PAIC Leonard assured us that, "We will not flex east until we have the manpower to do it." Four weeks later they did it anyway.

I will fast forward to the current situation. Manpower is stretched to the breaking point now and assaults are an everyday occurrence. SRT, BORSTAR, Horse Patrol, and the Air Mobile Unit have been brought in to supplement the line units which have been completely overwhelmed. The outgoing PAIC, Mark Moody, continued the good relationship between the union and management but his hands were tied concerning the manpower issues and the increased operational area.

This brings me to the main point of this post. Recent events have shown that some managers, namely (A) APAIC Mike Apple, are reverting to the old ways of crushing morale through micromanagement, jumping to conclusions which never benefit the line agents, and my favorite of causing more problems for agents by not following policies OR READING THE CONTRACT!

Mike Apple has shown a callous disregard for the union and by extension the membership at IB. He has attempted to violate the rights of union members by denying them representation during the course of an investigation. I know he is only the "Acting" APAIC but he deserves an Oscar for the conviction with which he told me that he, "was looking out for the agents" and "that the agents know he has their back." Several agents I related that to were incapacitated by fits of laughter.

I have tried to explain my actions and my thoughts to (A) APAIC Apple, but my impression from his words and tone is that he does not care. He is going to have the agents do what he wants when he wants it. His people skills are non-existant and my guess is that he is looking to move up the food chain. Unfortunately he is attempting to do that on the backs of the agents and complicit in it are his supervisors who have allowed him to do so. It seems that by his chronic actions the relationship we once had at IB is on life support. I believe it will be up to the new PAIC to continue the working relationship that has existed over the past few years. The union hopes that we can again work together to make the job easier and safer for the agents.

I take no pride in saying that (A) APAIC Mike Apple has exhibited the new agency mantra of "Honor Last."