See the Heat

Recent attempts to smuggle drugs and illegals into San Diego via the Pacific Ocean have prompted the installation of thermal-imaging cameras that have the capability of scanning a distance of ten miles.

The cameras are budgeted at $263,000 and are said to be able to detect smuggling operations during fog and rainstorm conditions.

Of late, smugglers have been making their move during tempestuous, low-visibility weather, when their boats are more difficult to detect. A 34-year-old Guatemalan and an 18-year-old Mexican woman recently drowned when the boat they were traveling in capsized off Torrey Pines.

Diario San Diego interviewed sheriff William Gore, who stated, “We are going to search for traffickers and whatever else is going on out there, including terrorists. There is a lot of trafficking in people, drugs, kidnap victims, and prostitutes between the borders, and this is a way to combat it.”

The private security company FLIR will be installing the cameras during the next four months.

Source: Diario San Diego