In the Shadows of Darkness, the Hunters Become the Hunted

When the man came up to him in the canyon area known as Big Bang, Fred Stevens became suspicious. No undocumented immigrant, Stevens reasoned, would have approached him as this man did in May, 1985, in the rugged terrain that separates San Diego from Tijuana, the Third World from the First.

“I’ve been too long in those canyons,” Stevens, a U. S. Border Patrol agent at the time, testified during a recent federal court hearing. People, he said, “only approach each other when they have some other interest.”

Stevens decided the man was “dirty,” probably a thief; he braced himself for an assault. He used his walkie-talkie to alert other officers.

“I told them to get the helicopter on standby, our support,” Stevens recalled in another court proceeding.

In the ensuing shoot-out, Stevens was shot five times; a bulletproof vest probably saved his life. The suspect, a former Mexico City state policeman, was dead on the canyon floor, the fatal shot a single bullet in the forehead from a 9-millimeter pistol. An attorney would later contend that the man was summarily executed by police, an allegation rejected by authorities and, last month, by a federal jury.

Bloodiest Police Squad

It was another night on the beat for one of the nation’s most singular--and bloodiest--police squads: The Border Crime Prevention Unit, composed of volunteers drawn from the ranks of the San Diego Police Department and U. S. Border Patrol.

The border outfit has been controversial since its creation. Some have maintained that officers should not be risking their lives protecting people who are in the country illegally. Others say the unit precipitates more violence than it prevents.

Authorities insist otherwise, saying that the officers’ presence is an effective deterrent of crime against a most vulnerable population.

“These are human beings, and they’re being victimized,” Police Chief Bob Burgreen said.

The joint city-federal unit was created in early 1984, when reports of border robberies, rapes and murders were on the rise. Unlike the legendary undercover San Diego police task force that patrolled the area from 1976 to 1978, the new unit was to be a uniformed, high-profile squad.

Authorities say standard police techniques would not serve in the border area, where there are few paved roads, telephones, fixed residences or named streets. (Geographic points are given nicknames such as Maggie’s Drawers, the Mousetrap, Washer Woman Flats, etc.).

Consequently, officials opted for a hybrid police-military model, a kind of mini-commando squad. “This is more like a tactical military operation,” Burgreen said.

Two of the initial supervisors, Border Patrol Agent Stevens and San Diego Police Sgt. Hank Olais, were ex-Army paratroopers. Stevens had served three tours in Vietnam.

The patrol’s two “teams” are designated as Alpha and Bravo; each generally consists of five or six officers. During patrols, a “Charlie” team, consisting of one or two officers, stays behind with a vehicle, ready to provide more equipment or support as needed.

One lawman on each team, designated the “shotgunner,” covers the rear and is armed with a shotgun. Officials at first contemplated using assault rifles, but rejected the military weapons as too dangerous. A “point man,” generally a Spanish-speaker, is first in line in each team. The team leader, a senior officer, is usually next. A “bagman” totes a sack with flares and binoculars. Each officer generally carries two weapons, typically semiautomatic 9-millimeter pistols.

(The weapons wielded by thieves vary greatly. Of the 14 fatal shooting incidents involving the unit, which left 18 suspects dead, real guns were found in five cases. In five other instances authorities reported discovering other weapons, ranging from BB guns to an air rifle to a screwdriver to a stick disguised to look like a shotgun. On four other occasions investigators discovered toy weapons near the victims.)

Beat Covers Wide Swath

The “beat” of the border outfit is among the city’s largest geographically: On a given evening, officers may be patrolling anywhere within about an 8-mile-long, half-mile-wide swath of international frontier. On some occasions, it even patrols areas several miles to the north that are also traversed by the migrants.

Before embarking each evening (the unit patrols five nights a week), the unit has an intelligence briefing at the cramped police headquarters in the border community of San Ysidro, less than half a mile from the border. There, they hear reports culled from police, Border Patrol agents and other sources regarding robberies and other crimes in the canyons.

With a specific destination in mind, the teams “insert”--that is, are dropped off by four-wheel-drive vehicles--at specific border locations. They then begin walking in staggered single file toward a specific area where they have received reports of criminal activity. Alpha team begins the patrol, followed about 10 minutes later by Bravo squad. The officers are equipped with flashlights, walkie-talkies and night-vision devices to facilitate observation. The lawmen often set up surveillance at suspected trouble spots.

Their dress is inspected every evening, authorities say. Police officers don khaki outfits with cloth badges outside of their uniforms; border agents wear regular, heavy-weight green “rough duty” uniforms, with metal badges visible. All wear bulletproof vests.

‘High Visibility’

“We were high visibility,” recalled Olais, the police sergeant, who was involved in six shootings during his seven months with the unit in 1984. “We’d fly the flag. We didn’t hide the fact that we were police officers. We’d walk up to people and befriend them; we’d talk to the guides.”

Lawmen readily acknowledge that the canyons are a dark, nerve-wrenching experience, even for armed officers, a place where every shadow can represent a threat. “It’s a scary place,” said Border Patrol agent Dana Cunningham, who served on the unit last year. “If you don’t possess a controlled fear, then you’re neglecting your job.”

Olais added: “I was scared every night. I think I said the name of each apostle every night. I did a lot of praying.”

While on patrol, the lawmen maintain a kind of safety zone around them. Anyone approaching them within 15 feet is viewed with suspicion. Officers snap their fingers to alert colleagues to potentially dangerous persons.

“If it’s a bandit, he’s probably casing us,” said Sgt. Joseph T. Wood, a former unit supervisor who was interviewed recently in the unit’s small room in a trailer-like facility behind the police station in San Ysidro.

In the canyons, split-second decisions are the rule. In each of the 14 fatal-shooting incidents, authorities said that the border lawmen didn’t open fire until the suspects were wielding, and apparently preparing to use, weapons.

“Sometimes a guy just turns up to you from nowhere and starts shooting,” recalled Sgt. Olais, now attached to the homicide squad.

But, in only two of the 14 fatal-shooting cases did suspects fire before they were shot by the lawmen, according to police and written accounts of the shootings by the San Diego County district attorney’s office.

It is a fact of life, officers say, that, despite their uniforms and badges, robbers do attempt to assault them, apparently mistaking the lawmen for border-crossers in the dark.

“I’m dumbfounded sometimes why they’re not able to identify us as police,” said Sgt. Wood, seated in the unit’s office. A starter’s pistol and a phony sawed-off shotgun taken from robbers hang on the walls next to the squad members’ gray metal lockers. “I don’t want us to get into a fire fight with someone who wants to rob us for 25 cents.”

Some critics have suggested that unit officers, contrary to their statements, do attempt to conceal their identities. In at least one fatal shooting, a Border Patrol officer assigned to the unit acknowledged during court testimony that he was attempting to appear like an illegal alien--in apparent violation of unit guidelines.

In some cases, police say, drugs have impaired the thieves’ judgment. But autopsies indicate that only three of the 18 dead suspects had taken controlled substances before being shot; two had ingested cocaine and one showed signs of barbiturates.

At least one suspected robber, Enrique Estrada Rodriguez, should have known better. He was shot and wounded in March, 1988, when he and three others attempted to assault the unit near a concrete flood-control levee along the Tijuana River, police said. One of his confederates was killed. Almost nine months later, in about the same location, Estrada himself was shot dead, along with another suspected robber, when he attempted to assault the patrol, authorities said. His body showed 13 bullet wounds.

Officers volunteer for the four-month assignments on the border unit; there is never a shortage of sign-ups, officials say. Authorities say they limit each volunteer to two tours, or eight months of service. Supervisors say they screen applicants for their ability to handle the special assignment. A number of women have served.

“If I see any signs of stress--if someone just had a baby, if their dad died, if they’re going through a divorce, whatever, I’ll remove them from duty,” said San Diego Police Capt. Dick Toneck, who heads the southern police division, where the squad is based.

“We don’t want any Rambos,” said Sgt. Wood.

What attracts officers about the assignment?

“You get a chance to get out there and defend defenseless people,” said agent Cunningham.

Receive Specialized Training

The border officers receive a specialized two-week training course that involves marksmanship, police tactics and more specialized skills--such as rudimentary Spanish. Unlike the previous outfit, which was mostly composed of Latino officers, there is no requirement that officers speak Spanish.

A key skill taught to recruits is the ability to distinguish the behavior of robbers--universally described as cocky, self-confident and brash--from the typical comportment of aliens, who are generally submissive, eager to head north and likely to avoid contact with other groups, according to authorities. In most fatal shootings, officers noted that the behavior or appearance of the suspected robbers was the initial indicator of criminal intent--sometimes because of the way they dressed, sometimes because of their movements, or sometimes because of their defiant behavior. Attorneys representing shooting victims have questioned the officers’ criteria as subjective, but authorities defend their ability to distinguish would-be robbers.

In a shooting that occurred Dec. 20, 1987, for instance, officers noted something amiss about two suspects loitering near the border fence. “One had a bandanna up over his mouth and nose and the second . . . was wearing a knit ski cap atop his head,” wrote Deputy San Diego County Dist. Atty. Brian E. Michaels in his summary of the case. “Their attire and conduct was atypical of illegal aliens crossing the border, and consistent with the officers’ experience with robbery suspects in the area.”

The two men eventually tried to rob the officers, police said. One of the two was shot and killed as he gestured with what appeared to be a weapon, according to the police account. A toy gun was found.

When trouble arises, retaliation can be harsh. At least five of the 18 suspects killed by the unit had nine or more bullet wounds, according to autopsy reports. At least half of the dead men were shot from behind, a fact that authorities say is not unusual in the dark, highly charged setting, in which many officers are firing from different angles.

The body of one suspected robber, Francisco Antonio Bernal Moreno, 23, who was shot in April, 1986, had 21 gunshot wounds, according to the post-mortem. During the autopsy, buckshot and bullet fragments fell from his clothing. Bernal was armed with a “realistic-appearing” weapon that turned out to be a BB pistol, the district attorney found.

Of the 18 dead robbery suspects, all were men and all were believed to be Mexican citizens in the United States illegally. (One remains unidentified.) Most were in their late teens or early 20s. Among the dead men, according to their listed occupations, were a baker, a fish vendor, a construction worker, a cook, an upholsterer--and the former Mexico City state policeman who opened fire on Border Patrol agent Stevens.

BORDER KILLINGS

Fatal shootings by the Border Crime Prevention Unit since it was deployed in 1984: 1984: 1 1985: 1 1986: 5 1987: 3 1988: 6 1989: 2

Reported homicides in undeveloped areas* of U.S.-Mexico border: 1984: 1 1985: 9 1986: 6 1987: 2 1988: 5 1989: 0

* In city of San Diego.

SOURCE: San Diego Police Department.