ARIZONA STATE LEGISLATURE

JOINT BORDER SECURITY ADVISORY COMMITTEE 2011

Minutes of the Meeting

Wednesday, August 31, 2011

10:00 a.m., House Hearing Room 1

Members Present:

Senator Al Melvin, CoChair	Representative Russ Jones, CoChair
Senator Gail Griffin	Representative David Stevens
Senator Steve Smith	Robert Halliday
Sheriff Joseph M. Arpaio	Sheriff Ralph Ogden
Sheriff Paul Babeu	Gilbert Orrantia
Sheriff Larry Dever	Charles Ryan
John Halikowski	Major General Hugo Salazar

Members Absent:

Bas Aja

Representative Javan Mesnard

Staff:

Joe DeMenna, House Assistant Research Analyst

Bill Ritz, Senate Research Analyst

CoChairman Jones called the meeting to order at 10:07 a.m.

Presentations

Robert Halliday, Director, Arizona Department of Public Safety (DPS), distributed a handout "2011 Organization" (Attachment A), gave an overview of DPS and answered questions posed by the Committee.

Jack Hegarty, Lieutenant Colonel, Highway Patrol Division, Arizona DPS, explained how DPS is organized and answered questions posed by the Committee regarding the following subject areas:

· Director's Office

· Highway Patrol Division

· Criminal Investigations Division

· Technical Services Division

· 588 Patrol Officers

· Aviation Division number of calls for service

· Aviation Division kinds of calls

· Interagency Cooperation

· Interdiction Program

· Border Region Operations

· Budget restrictions and impacts

Sheriff Larry Dever, Cochise County, Arizona, discussed the importance of the Committee and that he had heard from sheriffs in states in the eastern part of the United States and their problems with illegal aliens.

Sheriff Paul Babeu, Pinal County, Arizona, discussed the following points:

· Operation Jump Start

· Smuggling and the Cartels

· The dangers of a neighboring country being under siege

· The Fast and Furious Program

Sheriff Joe Arpaio, Maricopa County Sheriff, discussed the issue of illegal aliens who are already in the United States.

Colonel John Eggen, Wing Commander, Civil Air Patrol (CAP) - Arizona Wing, distributed "Arizona Wing CAP" (Attachment B), answered questions posed by the Committee and discussed the following subjects:

· Arizona Wing Unit Locations

· Operations of the CAP

· CAP available assets

· Cost effective support

· Arizona Wing resources

· CAP missions and goals

· CAP capabilities

· CAP member qualifications

Wesley Waddle, Lieutenant Colonel, Legislative Liaison, CAP, gave a brief overview of his background.

Senator Steve Smith discussed the Border Fence Project and stressed the importance of the project and distributed information regarding Washington Lobbying Day–America's Sheriffs on Border Security and Immigration Enforcement (Attachment C).

Senator Al Melvin discussed the Committee website and recent updates.  He explained future plans to form the following subcommittees:

· Border Fence Construction and Maintenance

· Arizona State Guard

· Border Statistics

· Websites – Committee and Fence

· Border Fence Fund Raising

Representative Russ Jones discussed the location and subject matter of future meetings.

Senator Gail Griffin read and discussed news clippings regarding border security.

There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 12:02 p.m.

                                                                                    Respectfully submitted,

                                                                                    Shelley Ponce

                                                                                    Committee Secretary

(Audio recordings and attachments are on file in the Secretary of the Senate’s Office/Resource Center, Room 115. Audio archives are available at http://www.azleg.gov)

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JOINT BORDER SECURITY

 ADVISORY COMMITTEE 2011

August 31, 2011

Page 1

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