Port securityNew task force helps protect Port of Virginia

A new border security task force has been launched to help secure the Port of Virginia.

The new Hampton Roads Border Enforcement Security Task Force (BEST) will bring together the combined resources of several agencies including U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE ) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG), Virginia Port Authority, as well as other federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies.

The task force is comprised of ten officers and agents from a total of ten local, state, and federal agencies that will be responsible for securing the Port of Virginia against a variety of criminal acts including trade fraud, cargo theft, and the illegal smuggling of drugs, persons, currency, and weapons.

According to John P. Torres, the special agent in charge of ICE HSI in Washington, D.C., based on the success of BEST teams in other ports around the country, the Hampton Roads task force is expected to have a large impact on the region.

“Previously established seaport-based BEST teams in places like Los Angeles, New York, and Miami have already had an impact on smuggling and other criminal activity in their regions,” Torres said. “We expect to replicate that success here in Hampton Roads and will work with our partners to combat the criminal and terrorist organizations that might seek to exploit the Port of Virginia’s large cargo volumes to commit maritime-related crimes such as smuggling.”

So far twenty-one BESTs have been established throughout the country at its major ports of entry including the Miami Seaport, the Southwest border, and the New York Seaport.

The Port of Virginia is the third largest port on the East Coast and last year more than one million containers passed through the port worth nearly $50 million. With the completion of a the new Heartland Corridor, which runs through the Midwest and the expansion of the Panama Canal, the port is expected to see an increase in direct foreign traffic resulting in more containers, crews, and ships entering the United States via the Port of Virginia.

“With the large volume of ships, people and cargo passing through this international port and the expansion of the Panama Canal expected to significantly increase traffic in the next 3 years, all of our agencies have recognized that resources will be tight, and we must be as effective and efficient as possible,” said Captain Mark Ogle, commander of U.S. Coast Guard Sector Hampton Roads. “The Coast Guard with its cutters, boats, aircraft, inspectors and boarding teams are the eyes and ears on the waterfront and are a primary intelligence provider to the investigative effort of the BEST.”

Jerry A. Bridges, Virginia Port Authority executive director, welcomed the announcement.

“We welcome BEST task force and the added layer of security it will provide; we look forward to working with its members,” Bridges said. “The Port of Virginia is an economic engine that is critical to the Commonwealth and ensuring the security of the cargo moving in and out of our port is a vital component to keeping that engine healthy and operational.”

Since 2008, BESTs across the nation have made more than 8,000 arrests, interdicted more than 32,000 pounds of cocaine, nearly 400,000 pounds of marijuana, and 2,900 pounds of ecstasy. In addition BESTs have seized more than 3,500 weapons and more than $53 million smuggled U.S. currency.

Based on these successes, ICE plans on continuing to establish BEST teams in areas where transnational criminal organizations seek to exploit security vulnerabilities. In particular the program’s goal is to dismantle the dangerous criminal organizations operating within the United States and its borders.