Fifth annual Border Security Expo shows off new technology

PHOENIX - Border agents across the country may soon be getting new tools to help them fight illegal immigration and drug smuggling.

The fifth annual Border Security Expo kicked off Tuesday morning in Phoenix. The latest technology was on display, ranging from 4-dimensional image-mapping software to long-range cameras capable of spotting people miles away.

“There’s over 100 vendors with literally best-of-breed technologies,” said Michael Rosenberg, the event’s organizer. “It’s always a task trying to stay one step ahead of the bad guys.”

Some of the gadgets on display are quite impressive. Cameras that can spot humans from miles away, facial-recognition software, guns and motion sensors lined the aisles of the Phoenix Convention Center. Another new tool is a remote-controlled helicopter equipped with a camera, making it easier for agents to spot people along the border.

“This, when you’re in the air, is hard to see and you’re able to be in an area and they don’t know you’re there,” said Vanguard Defense Industries Senior Vice President Richard Garcia.

While the technology is impressive, securing the border comes with a cost.

“We just don’t have an infinite amount of money to throw at this challenge,” said Rick Van Schoik, the Director for the North American Center for Transborder Studies at ASU. “We know we’re never going to completely secure the border. So it means minimizing risk, catching those who need to be caught, identifying the contraband we don’t need in the country, making sure that doesn’t get in.”

Van Schoik is about to release a study focusing on which kinds of technology is worth investing in. He suggested the best area to invest in revolves around communication devices.

While it may be too expensive to bring all the new tools to Arizona’s border, vendors said it’s important to look at all options in order to prevent people from sneaking into the U.S.

“If we’re smarter than they are, then we can stop them before they get to us,” said Mark Anderson, a sales manager for FLIR, a company that designs cameras for border surveillance. “No doubt about it.”