PALOMINAS — Glenn Spencer sat in front of a set of computer screens Wednesday morning in his office here and monitored activity along a nine-mile stretch of the U.S.-Mexico border.

Using his mouse, he controlled the pan, the tilt, the zoom and the contrast of a thermal camera.

“This is the San Pedro River there,” he said, pointing to a screen. “When you look down there at night with this camera system, if there was a person down there, they would stand out like a Christmas tree light at five miles away.”

Spencer, president of American Border Patrol, a non-governmental organization, has long used this high-tech, sophisticated camera equipment to look for illegal immigrants.

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But now he is seeking volunteers to help out.

“As we have learned over the years, it’s great if you have a camera down there, but all we would do is sit around and watch it. People may pop up every hour or every three or four hours,” he said, adding, “The problem is we have to stay up all night to see anything. It’s taking all of our time.”

So American Border Patrol developed software that lets people control the cameras via the Internet. The group is accepting applications from members of the general public who want to watch out for human smugglers and drug smugglers during 30-minute intervals. If someone sees something, the person would contact American Border Patrol and that group would in turn report it to U.S. Border Patrol officials.

The thermal camera works optimally during nighttime, but it also can be used during daylight hours. Besides it, there are four other cameras in the network that can be used during daytime or semi-night conditions. Together, the five cameras cost more than $100,000.

Mike Christie, director of operations for American Border Patrol, said the camera network “is usable now and will only get better in the future.”

“Ultimately, what we would like to see is a series of thermal cameras along with daylight cameras mounted on masts or towers all along the border that can be controlled over the Internet by volunteers,” he said. “It is certainly doable, it’s just a matter of getting funding.”

For information on the American Border Patrol, visit www.americanborderpatrol.com.

Herald/Review reporter Jonathon Shacat can be reached at 515-4693 or by e-mail at jonathon.shacat@bisbeereview.net.