New Border Patrol strategies fuel agent's dissatisfaction
The Arizona Daily Star Spending time with son Aaron, 2, is more important than overtime to Dwayne Ivey |
The Arizona Daily Star
SIERRA VISTA - At 25, Dwayne Ivey already reminisces about his good old days in the Border Patrol.
He was 19, carrying a gun and driving a government four-wheel-drive vehicle with emergency lights on top. He could pursue a vehicle, interview an illegal entrant and roam a good distance - all without asking permission.
``There was more freedom as an agent. They treated us like professionals,'' he said.
Now, almost seven years later, Ivey doesn't know whether he'll stay on until retirement - even though he'll be eligible before he turns 45.
Much of what drew Ivey to the Border Patrol dissipated with changes brought on by new agency strategies - first in the San Diego sector, then at the Douglas station, where he currently works.
``It's almost a nightmare because I watched it happen in California, and now I've watched it happen here,'' Ivey said.
Hooked on the agency
Ivey grew up in Tucson, living on food stamps in trailers near North Alvernon Way and East Glenn Street.``The situation, though it wasn't plush or luxuriant or absent of roaches, was comfortable to my mother and I,'' he said.
His parents divorced, and Ivey got used to taking on responsibilities earlier than usual. After graduating from Catalina High School, he began attending Pima Community College at age 17.
Ivey was planning to transfer to the University of Arizona and join the Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps - until he visited the Pima County Fair and saw a Border Patrol recruitment booth. He was hooked.
At age 18, after he passed the entrance exam, the agency hired him.
``I turned 19 at the academy and the whole time I was just in awe,'' Ivey said.
He was shipped off to San Diego in 1992, before the border buildup began.
``We got to really enjoy the job with the full range (of experiences). Pursuits were allowed. It was fun,'' Ivey said.
Border Patrol supervisor Fred Esquivel checks a border trench in Douglas that is a favorite hiding place for illegals. The trench dates back to Gen. John Pershing and Pancho Villa. |
Its objective was to secure the chaotic border south of San Diego with additional agents, improved technology and better fences.
It also ``tightened down on the job of the agent,'' Ivey said.
Agents' patrol areas shrunk, as did their authority. They needed permission to conduct a pursuit.
``It got to the point where you had to ask permission for anything,'' Ivey said.
With his job satisfaction dwindling, and family problems growing in Tucson, Ivey put in for a transfer in 1995. He didn't get it.
So he resigned and moved to Tucson, then reapplied months later to try to catch on with the agency in Arizona.
The Border Patrol rehired him, this time for a Douglas assignment. He even went through the academy once more.
``I had more time in (as an agent) than some of the instructors at the academy,'' he said.
`Cool' dating
In the meantime, Ivey started dating his future wife, Shelby.``I thought it was cool: `Yoo-hoo, I'm dating a federal agent!' '' Shelby said.
The couple married before Ivey was transferred to the Douglas station in 1997. When the call came they were ready to move.
To Sierra Vista.
Douglas was out of the question as a place to live, Dwayne Ivey said. He had seen too much bordertown mischief in San Ysidro, Calif.
``My feeling, from what I dealt with in California and what I've seen here, is a lot of people are involved (in drug or immigrant smuggling) in town,'' Ivey said.
In Sierra Vista, a 50-minute drive from work, ``you don't have a group of illegal aliens running through your back yard,'' Ivey said. ``I don't see vehicles I know are loaded with narcotics driving through my neighborhood.''
The commute isn't the only inconvenience of Border Patrol life, Ivey said.
One of the worst is shift work. In Douglas, agents rotate shifts about every month, from days to swing shifts to graveyards that end around dawn.
That means regular schedule changes for the other family members. With a 2-year-old son, Aaron, in the picture, that becomes harder and harder.
Another problem is the potential danger. A Nogales agent, Alexander Kirpnick, was murdered last summer. In June, someone tried to shoot a Douglas agent at point blank range, but the gun didn't fire.
Shelby Ivey said it took time, but she adjusted to the fear.
``As long as I pray each night, I don't worry at all. It's become a routine thing,'' she said.
Consuming job
It would be easy to let Border Patrol work consume your life, Dwayne Ivey said. Agents regularly work 10-hour days, five days per week. Many weeks they can also sign up for a sixth or seventh day of work, he said.Ivey, who serves as a steward for the agents' union, resists the temptation of that money.
He explained why as he quizzed Aaron on the toddler's toy cars: ``Where's the '56 Chevy? Where's the engine? Where's the bumper?''
``To me, my time off is more valuable than almost any money they could pay me,'' he said. ``Life is being able to take time off with your family. I'm not going to work my life away.''
That feeling grows alongside Ivey's frustration with the agent's job.
At Douglas, as was the case in San Ysidro, supervisors increasingly manage each decision and limit agents' range of patrol. And many of these supervisors are green, even compared to Ivey.
``The bulk of the (Douglas) station doesn't have a lot of experience,'' he said. ``They've hired supervisors who have 3, 3 1/2 years experience.
``When I came in, a field operations supervisor had at least 15 years in,'' he said.
Ivey tempers his dissatisfaction by gathering intelligence on criminals during his shifts, a duty he enjoys.
Still, an additional frustration, common among agents, looms: a tough Border Patrol transfer policy.
As it stands, agents are unlikely to be able to move to their station of choice, if it's one of the more popular ones.
Ivey's ideal assignment would be to the Tucson station, a popular one, or Sonoita, a small one.
So, when asked whether he'll stay the 19 years necessary to retire from the agency, Ivey says he'll give that choice another five years.
He and Shelby have considered opening a couple of businesses: maybe a restaurant that just serves breakfast and lunch, or perhaps a karate studio. So, retirement?
``If things were to change? Yeah,'' he said. ``Right now, no. To keep me they'd have to allow me to use my judgment more and not have the agents so controlled.
``Job satisfaction is ultimately what's going to keep somebody.''