It is not that the border needs more enforcement, the question as I see it is why not do it with much less expensive equipment. Unless the cartels have some sort of navy there is no need for a battleship like that. And as far as money for education goes, you can bet that increasing class sizes dramatically will have a negative affect on education. Classroom management alone will be much more difficult not to mention all the extra time it takes to grade papers and to prepare individual lesson plans for many of the students.
Plus college tuition costs are going out of site. The college and universities sure do not need any reductions.

The Texas Dept.of Public Safety consists of several Divisions and components. The HP is just one. DPS is the State Police, and they have a Narcotics Division.
It would be nice if the Border Patrol got these boats, but the federal government has not provided them!

I think the money was well spent if they use them to keep everyone else out of the Pro Staffers fishing holes.

At first this made me sick and I thought about the $4.6 million budget gap in the Texas Parks & Wildlife budget and asking citizens for donations. Since the Federal Governament is FLAT BROKE asking them for help is out of the question. After I thought about it the drug cartels don't have a budget. The drug cartels have more than enough cash to stay one step ahead of law enforcement. It will be difficult for smugglers to out run our law enforcement now. If these boats will help stop the flow of drugs, guns, & money in and out of Mexico I say it's well worth it.

The boat is not a Texas Parks and Wildlife boat. It belongs to DPS and will have State Troopers running it. They are wanting to get into water enforcement.
Texas Parks and Wildlife has different boats called Safe Boats that have been patrolling border waters for the last few years. They aren't as big and elaborate as this boat but they are twin engine boats mounted with a machine gun. None of the money for these boats comes out of the normal budget in Parks and Wildlife's case. The money is from Federal grant money. I would imagine the DPS got the money the same way but not sure.

Great photo op. What a waste of our money!!!

Gees Stevie Wonder can see it's not a TP&W Boat! Funding came from Texas Legislature and federal grants.

http://www.kxan.com/dpp/news/texas/new-dps-boats-tools-in-drug-smuggling

TY

Note to self: Do not post any pictures that have a chance to spark a government debate. lol

I just thought the boats were cool looking. They are going to spend it one way or another and I really don't have any control over that.

If I'm a state trooper on the river trying to recover people and drugs that have just made a run for it and drove into the river to esacpe(which they do regularly), I wouldnt want anything less than that boat and firepower. The cartel guys alot of times are sitting on the south bank in full view and are heavily armed.

The only problem I see is they should've been runnin Yammies on the back.......

Thanks for the clarification James!
"The newly formed Highway Patrol Tactical Marine Unit will eventually number 40 DPS officers."

Exactly what I was thinking.....this is a drop in the bucket to an aircraft carrier or any other ships we have. For what these boats are costing, I don't even think you can buy a helicopter. The cost of Freedom is not cheap and securing our borders is a big part of that. If you want to be the dominate force in the world you have to be bigger and badder than the force you are trying to put down.

Well I'll put in my

I do believe that we need as much LEO on the border as possible. With the way things are and where they are headed, no amount is too much. As for the money spent on these boats, well, I don't believe that it is necessary.That money would pay several salaries for more people to be on patrol.

As far as the school funding, my wife is a teacher. I know that every school district is different. Some have a lot more money than others. She has been teaching now for 7 years and since 2008, we have had to come up with a lot more money out of pocket for teaching supplies each year that the school does not pay for. She has more students, less aids, and more considerably more duties now then when she started, for very minimal amount of raises to compensate.

I am not saying that public schools don't need to trim some edges to make ends meet in the tough times, but I do think that that are PLENTY other edges that can be cut before public education gets cut. My wife loves the kids, teaching, and the fulfillment of making an impact on he kids lives. Now, she is thinking of finding another job because of the stress of all the added stuff for very little pay. Not to mention the discipline, or should I say the lack of, in today's youth.

Why don't they take about half of the people at the inland inspection stations and put them to patrolling the border. Lot more going on at the border than at the inspection stations. There must have been 25 to 30 agents milling around the inspection on I35 last week when I came through. Looked like each one had driven their own Border patrol car/truck there also.

I promise you that every time I make the trip to Falcon I see a minimum of 15 to 20 Border Patrol vehicles sitting beside the road. I am sure they have a lot of people coming up to them and asking to be taken back across the border. Lot of idle time spent just sitting beside the road.

Its not necessarily that we need a lot more people or equipment, they just need to use the personnel and equipment more efficiently.

just another waste of taxpayer money what wre they thinking with a checkpoint 25 miles from the border with many other ways to get around them the illegals would come to the checkpoint an turn themselves in this kind of thinking has got us to where we are now.