Negative U.S. Border Trend Is a Positive

You frequently hear about the dangers of border crime, but how is it here in San Diego? The answer, surprisingly, is relatively safe.

A national study by USA Today shows border-related crime is down across the Southwest.

According to San Diego Sheriff Captain David Myers, San Diego County has also had a dramatic decrease in border-related crimes over the last three years.

"About three years ago, I applied on behalf of the Sheriff's Department to do collaborative enforcement using Operation Stonegarden funds," Myers said.

The grant brought $25 million in federal money to the San Diego area to help law enforcement be proactive and fight border-related crime before it became a problem, Myers said.

Operation Stonegarden brings together 19 local and state law enforcement agencies that work together to fight crime.

The group has found that local gangs have a large involvement with Mexican drug cartels and that combating them in their own neighborhoods is helpful when it comes to fighting border-related crime.

"We know that San Diego gangs are directly involved in drug smuggling for the cartel," Myers said. "A majority [of the gangs] in one way or another are helping support the cartels."

"[For example] A local Asian gang is directly involved in smuggling drugs across the border," Myers said. Other gangs smuggle guns or people, he added.

Myers said the criminal activity starts to effect local neighborhoods when the rival gangs start to fight among themselves.

Rival gangs go to each other’s homes to commit home invasions to try to steal their β€œproduct” away and vice versa, Myers said.

These tertiary problems are what the money from Operation Stonegarden is for, to allow local and state agencies to be proactive when it comes to fighting border related crime, Myers said.

"The reason I see a dramatic decrease is because of the dramatic increase in arrests," Myers said. "It is because of the dismantling of the tertiary groups that support the drug cartels."

Myers says using money from the grant, the Sheriff's Department and other agencies are able to, for example, increase patrols in the East County area where San Diego gang members are likely to hang out.

Some San Diego based gang members, head out to the East County area to wait for runners to meet them inside the parking lot at a local casino.

"We go out there and we know where they are, they are inside the casino gambling," Myers said.

He said members of the team go out and make arrests disrupting the process.

Local businesses feel the effects of the heightened patrols; one Campo store manager said crime in the area isn't really notable. Campo is less than five miles from the Mexican border.

"[There is] nothing related to the border, nothing unusual. I mean people are not crossing the border and committing crimes," said Steve Garmo, manager of the Campo Trading Post.

"If we can be very proactive and be there before it starts, we all win," Myers said.

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