The U.S. Border Patrol has completed the first phase of a border surveillance system installed in Arizona as part of an effort to increase situational awareness, the Arizona Daily Star reported Monday.
Perla Trevizo writes seven of 52 planned integrated fixed towers in Nogales are already functional, and construction in Douglas and Sonoita is scheduled to begin in January.
The solar-powered towers include radar and cameras for video footage transmission to a border patrol command post, according to the report.
The Arizona border surveillance technology plan, announced in 2011, is set to begin full operations in fiscal year 2020 and will incorporate ground sensors, truck-mounted night-vision scopes, binoculars and fixed towers, Trevizo reports.
Fernando Grijalva, assistant chief of the communications department at the Border Patrol’s Tucson sector, told the publication the program will provide 90 percent border situational awareness once finished.
