Texas Gov. Rick Perry promised during his 2006 reelection campaign to spend $5 million to line the Texas-Mexico border with hundreds of cameras that would broadcast live footage over the Internet.
He called the program a virtual border watch. The cameras would let anyone with a Web connection watch the border and report illegal crossings to law enforcement.
The first test of the program came in November 2006. More than 21 million people logged on to the site. An El Paso Times review of results from the test showed that viewers sent thousands of e-mails that resulted in the apprehension of 10 undocumented immigrants and one drug bust.
Steve McCraw, who was then Perry's director of homeland security, said that although there were few arrests that resulted from the cameras, the test was successful because it showed that the camera technology worked.
In 2007, lawmakers in the Texas Legislature declined Perry's request for $5 million to restart the cameras and expand the program.
In 2008, Perry secured a $2 million federal grant for the border Web cameras. He sought bids from private vendors to operate the cameras but was unable to find a company to do the job for $2 million.
Later that year, he awarded the $2 million grant to the Texas Border Sheriffs Coalition. The coalition contracted with online social-networking company BlueServo, run by Philip Midkiff, to install and operate the cameras.
After one year, the coalition and BlueServo had spent the entire $2 million grant but failed to meet nearly all of the law enforcement goals initially set out for the program. BlueServo installed 17 cameras; the initial goal was 200. Reports from the camera viewers led to 11 arrests and about 300 immigration referrals. Original goals for the program were about 1,200 arrests and 4,500 illegal immigrant referrals.
BlueServo also failed to sell advertising on the Web site, which was intended to generate enough revenue to help sustain the camera program.
Perry's staff said initial goals set for the program were too high and should have been altered but were not changed because of a technical glitch.
Perry awarded the coalition a second $2 million grant in 2009 to continue operating the cameras.
Tweet This