Your car’s license number is what border patrol wants

Matt: What information is entered into the computer by the customs officer when I return from TJ? What do they do with this information? — Mike888, the Net

No surprise, the main thing is your car’s license number. But that officer isn’t scrutinizing your face because he thinks you have nice eyes... The terminal is linked to the U.S. treasury department’s Treasury Enforcement Communications System. That’s a point-to-point communication system and a collection of data bases with fugitive and criminal suspect information (people, businesses, vehicles, property, guns, securities, boats), individual criminal histories, and vehicle registration and driver’s license data. The FBI’s National Crime Information Center files are also in the base. TECS customers are the DEA, INS, customs, IRS, ATF, state and treasury departments, Coast Guard, and the Washington office of INTERPOL. Treasury will say no more about the system, but you get the drift. If your Escort’s not hot and you’re just trying to get some cranky kids and a plaster Bart Simpson statue back home, you don’t have much to worry about.