The job is flexible, explained Hewson, and each officer has his own vehicle. Officers essentially drive around often remote and overgrown areas along the border looking for suspicious individuals or situations. They are also alerted to areas where sensors have been set off at the sensor headquarters in Swanton. The closest officer has to respond, and go check it out. According to Hewson, there are three different types of sensors - ones that are set off by the weight of the object or person crossing the border, a magnetic sensor that is only set off by vehicles, and an infrared sensor.
Officers are alerted to suspect situations by other means as well.
They'll call us up if they see something suspicious. Hewson's daily routine is to patrol the side roads and look for signs of illegal entry such as tire tracks, footprints or matted-down grass. Step forward, two back Hewson explained that it is nearly impossible to cite border patrol success rates. Although the northern border is twice the size of the southern border, only 300 officers are assigned to the north, compared to 8000 in the south. Hewson stated that the decline in smuggling is also due in part to the fact that the Canadian government lowered the cigarette taxes approximately five years ago.