Border Patrol lowers standards to get recruits
No dummy left behind.
You don't need no stinking education!
A mandate to hire 6,000 new border agents by the end of 2008 has lowered qualification tests, concentrated four months of training into 10 weeks and is raising concerns that recruits won’t get the proper training they need to protect the borders…
By October 1, half of all Border Patrol agents will have less than two years of experience, says Richard Pierce. “So essentially, what we have is trainee agents teaching trainees out in the field.”
According to the Border Patrol’s website, the academy no longer requires a high school diploma or GED for entrance, and passing test grades have been lowered from 85 percent to 70…
“The Border Patrol is using contract employees right now to do background investigations, where it used to use FBI agents,” Pierce said. “The contract program isn’t even finished before the employee is hired. We have employees in the academy who have not completed background checks.”
Is our government just trying to deal with the diminishing results from a mediocre education system? Or is Bush’s new slogan - “Second-best or less”?
Posted: Thu - March 27, 2008 at 09:29 AM