Page 9 - Customs Today Winter1984-OCR
P. 9

Commissioner:
Is there any particular reason
you don't put some inspectors in plain clothes down there?
Inspector Casale:
I don't know any reason. I do know the
inspectors would like to work in plain clothes
just to get rid of some of the distractions we've mentioned.
Commissioner:
How about Chicago? Do you
use roving inspectors?
Inspector Eisenhauer (Chicago):
Part of the time we do. Actually, the way
it's been working is that the inspector works with the enforcement team, roving out in the ca rousel area most of the time, but part of the time is assigned to work back in secondary helping with seizures.
Commissioner:
Now I understand that one of
the results of using rovers is that the supervisory inspectors get more deeply involved in the activity on the floor, is that right?
Inspector Bauman (Miami):
Yes, with the rovers in Miami they've es
tablished a supervisor for each shift. This has
really helped. The supervisors that have been as signed are very enforcement minded and also very good supervisors. It's all working out very well.
Commissioner:
Of course, in Chicago you can
change green lines to red simply by turning off the green light and turn ing on the red light. Do you have to make this switch very often?
Inspector Eisenhauer:
I would guess thet we use only one red lane
about 90 percent of the time. We do switch to two red lanes if we get high-risk flights in, or if we know that we will be collecting a lot of duty
from an arriving flight.
With flights coming from the Orient,
we've found it's a good idea to open up the extra red line because you get a lot of people who will declare say $3,000 worth of merchandise when they are actually carrying $5,000 or even $10,000 worth.
Commissioner:
It always fascinates me how
people will try to beat Customs out of paying duty or how they will look
for an inspector with red hair, or one who's smiling, or one who's not
smiling. I've talked to people who have sure-fire ways of getting
through Customs, ways they al ways use, that always work.
What about Miami? Have you
gained anything by going to Red/ Green?
Inspector Casale:
I've worked on a number of passenger
processing systems in Miami, going back to ASSIST. Red/Green seems to be the best. I be
lieve the average time for most people from plane landing to out the door is 35 to 40 minutes.
Commissioner:
Yes, I know it's improved. What about Houston? Yours is the most
freewheeling Red/Green system. In other words, the green lane there is
the easiest to use. Do you think it
has adversely affected enforce ment?
Inspector Cook:
No, not at all. Actually, we've found you can leave it up to the inspectors' experience and
expertise. They are pretty well able to pick out who should be examined. Their selectivity is
producing more seizures. Commissioner:
What about profiles? Are they
distributed to all the airports? I mean do you receive profiles that
are developed in other airports?
Inspector Cook:
Yes we do. That's something we were
talking about before this meeting, the improve ment in communications and training in the
area of profiling and behavioral patterns.
Commissioner:
Some people have suggested
that the use of rovers could result in the inspectors in primary and sec ondary relaxing their enforcement intensity. Do you agree?
Inspector Bauman:
That may be true in the case of the obvious
drug courier. That is, the inspectors in primary and secondary would expect the rovers to get the
obvious ones. But somebody who beats the pro-
Hosting a round tabic discussion at Headquarters, Commissioner von Raab discussed Customs Red/
Green passenger inspection systems with inspectors
from major gateway airports across the country. As AssistantCommissionerEugeneH.Much,Inspec
tionandControl,(inrear)observes,Commissioner von Raab finds out firsthand how Red/Green is work
ingatairportsfromtheAtlantictothePacific.
CUSTOMS TODAY / WINTER 1984


































































































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