World’s Longest Unguarded Sieve

If you’re like me, and get a sense that border surveillance on the US-Canadian prairies is more illusion than reality, you’re not wrong.;

A scathing new report by the union representing Canada’s customs agents suggests bad policy and slow police response have turned the country’s border into a sieve easily exploited by criminals.
The leaked document, which was prepared last week for a Senate committee reviewing security at entry points across the country, reiterates longstanding union demands for an armed presence at the border. Appended to the report is a list, compiled by the Canada Border Services Agency, of 116 ports of entry and distances to the nearest law enforcement detachments.
Nearly half are at least 25 kilometres away, with most rural ports located 50 kilometres or more from the closest police station.
“It stands to reason that distance between a police detachment to a customs port is not a perfect marker for police response time,” the Customs Excise Union report acknowledges.
“But it does highlight challenges posed by distance and, in some examples, clearly illustrates that even if a police cruiser could travel at high speed with its siren on, response times are beyond minutes and span into hours.”

There’s a reason he chose the words “even if”.