FEB 2023. Blues Vol 39 No. 2

FROM THE PUBLISHER’S

FROM THE PUBLISHER’S DESK yrs. A Tribute to Those We Lost and a Look at the Catastrophe We Call a Border. This month we delve into the Crisis at the Border, or should I say Catastrophe at the Border, and we pay tribute to the men and women of law enforcement that lost their lives in the line of duty in 2022. Let’s start with our annual Tribute to Fallen Officers. Last year, we lost 229 brothers and sisters in Blue and while that’s 440 less than the year before, even one is too many. And thankfully COVID deaths have fallen to only 73, a huge reduction from the 474 in 2021 and 281 in 2021. In 2022, the numbers breakdown down as follows: 4 for 9/11 illnesses, 1 accidental, 6 in aircraft accidents, 2 that were animal related, 32 in auto crashes, 73 to COVID, 7 in duty related illnesses, 1 died in a fire, 60 due to gunshots, 4 because of inadvertent gunfire, 11 died of a heart attack, 2 due to heatstroke, 3 in motorcycle crashes, 4 were struck by vehicles, 1 in a training accident and 14 in vehicular assaults. The insert begins after page 75, so please take the time to look at every face and remember their names. They made the ultimate sacrifice to keep us safe. They died as heroes, and we owe it to them and their families to never forget who they were and what they stood for. Our feature story takes us to the Texas Border. Unless you’ve been to any of the Southern Border of Texas, you have no idea of the chaos that occurs 24-hours a day in towns like El Paso, Del Rio, and smaller Rio Grande Valley cities like La Joya, Roma, Hidalgo, Mission, and Rio Grande City. The recent trip by our so-called leader was a joke. Long before Biden arrived in El Paso, various government agencies descended on the city and sanitized the streets. Meaning all the homeless, the hundreds of illegal immigrants that only the week before were literally everywhere, suddenly disappeared. At least until Biden left. The following day, you guessed it, they were all back. In fact, if you believe the rumor, both the US and Mexican governments, paid thousands of immigrants on the Mexican side of the Rio Grande, not to cross on the day that Biden was waking along the river. Whether they were paid or not, not a single person was seen wading across a river that only the day before saw more than 5,000 crossing. Hmmm. To say we’re fighting a losing battle is an understatement at best. Two elected lawmen that are making a difference is Sheriff Coe from Kinney County and Galveston County Constable Jimmy Fullen. Now before you ask, why is a Galveston County Constable making a difference at the border, it’s not because he has to, it’s because he wants too. SGT. MICHAEL BARRON RET Sheriff Coe only has 6 full-time deputies. That’s it. To patrol 1300 square miles with hundreds if not thousands of illegal immigrants, breaking every kind of law there is. In addition of course to be in this country illegally. So, Constable Fullen and Galveston County Sheriff Henry A. Trochesset, decided they would send deputies down to Kinney County to assist their fellow officers. It sure as hell isn’t a ‘fun’ assignment, but it’s a job that has to be done and the deputies assigned to the detail aren’t complaining. In fact Fullen himself has been down to border dozens of times since the special assignment began in August of 2021. Finally, I can’t say this enough. THANK YOU if you are reading this magazine. This year marks the 39th Anniversary of THE BLUES and last December we reached over a half million readers in a single month. None of this would have been possible without YOU, our readers. So, thanks again for making us the largest police magazine on the planet. 6 The BLUES The BLUES 7