EL PASO -- In an effort to ramp up security, the Texas Department of Public Safety shifted state troopers to the border but that has led to fewer patrols, tickets and arrests elsewhere in the state.
"Their charge is public safety but public safety in terms of what's happening on the streets not public safety in terms of federal law enforcement," said Veronica Escobar, El Paso County Judge.
Escobar and other critics of the strategy object to diverting DPS troopers to do the job of Border Patrol agents and other federal law enforcement agencies tasked with protecting the border.
But last summer then Governor Perry said the federal government had failed to "secure the border" and sent hundreds of additional Texas troopers to the Rio Grande Valley as illegal border crossings spiked during the mass migration of Central American families and unaccompanied children.
In the two years DPS has ramped up border enforcement, the number of citations or tickets dropped 14% according to DPS data obtained by the El Paso Times. There was a 25% decrease in arrests by Texas Rangers according to DPS data examined by The Dallas Morning News.
"The Department of Public Safety is understaffed throughout the state, and a sustained deployment of personnel to the border region reduces the patrol and investigative capacity in other areas of the state that are also impacted by transnational crime," according to a DPS report on Operation Strong Safety prepared for the Texas Legislature and Governor.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott is backing a plan to hire and train as many as 500 new troopers who would permanently patrol the border.
State lawmakers would have to approve funding on top of the $102 million Texas taxpayers have spent to send both Texas troopers and National Guard troops to the border.
During a tour of the Rio Grande Valley border region Friday Governor Abbott said additional DPS funding would determine how long Texas National Guard troops remain on the border.
"Once my security plan is in effect then we can begin the process of sending the National Guard back home," said Abbott.
