Talk:U.S. Customs and Border Protection

In order to better understand CBP and its history, I included the history of some of its agencies. There is a lot to do but I added INS and Customs.--Mad Max 18:12, Mar 3, 2005 (UTC)

What is the rank hierarchy? All of the ranks were combined with the merger; meaning no agency had rank above the other. The rank each inspector held went with them. The ranks are; trainee 5/7, journeyman 9, senior inspector/officer 11, supervisor 12, deputy chief 13, and master cheif 14, followed by port director 14+, director of feild operations. The ranks go in order of pay scale.

Equipment

I know the CBP in Bellingham uses Black Hawks as they are loaned out to our local SWAT team. 63.226.220.212 18:37, 28 June 2007 (UTC)

Visas, passports, etc

I assume the CBP alone deals with these? Or is there some overlap?69.6.162.160 14:52, 19 July 2006 (UTC)Brian Pearson

I think the Department of State deal with at least some of that stuff. 63.226.220.212 18:38, 28 June 2007 (UTC) Chris Perez

The Department of State issues passports to U.S. citizens. Customs and Border Protection views and scans passports upon entry of the traveler into the United States. CBPCSC (talk) 01:30, 27 January 2008 (UTC)

Inspectors

CBP doesn't really have any Inspectors anymore. Prior to CBP there were Immigration Inspectors, Customs Inspectors and Agriculture Inspectors. Now they are all CBP Officers. They dropped the inspectors from the classification, supposedly in order to make it easier to receive 6c law enforcement coverage pay. Should this be reflected in the article?

Rank insignia?

Going through US Immigration/Customs inspections, I notice that the officers wear US military commisioned and warrent officer insignia. What is the relationship of the rank insignia with pay grades and titles? Thanks for any information.--TGC55 01:43, 7 May 2007 (UTC)

CBP rank/insignia is as follows:

GS 5&7 /trainee/ blank epaulette

GS 9 /journeyman/ single silver line

GS 11 CBP Enforcement Officer Silver bars (Like a first lieutenant) Only about 500 of these out of 20,000.Doublehem (talk) 05:16, 23 November 2007 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by Doublehem (talk • contribs) 05:07, 23 November 2007 (UTC)

GS 11 /Officer / warrant officer bars

GS 12 /Supervisor/ Gold Oak leaf (It looks like an Army Major)

GS 13 / Chief/ Silver oak Leaf (like an army Lt Col)

GS 14&15 / Assistant Port Director/ Eagle (like an army full bird Colonel)

Control at borders

Is it the CBP or another agency which stamps passports and searches for bottles of alcohol in your bags in airports, ports and checkpoints on roads ? Are the same people in charge of immigration and customs (in other countries, you go through the immigration control first and then through customs)? Apokrif 22:53, 4 November 2007 (UTC)

Yes, the CBP officers place the chop on your passport and perform customs duties. However, the two processes are not done all at once. First a CBPO who is working immigration will look at your passport, tickets, visas and so on. Once (if) you are allowed to enter the country, you get your bags and other CBPOs may check your bags for dutiable items, illegal items (mainly drugs, child porn, copy right infringements, and terrorist junk), or CBPAS (formerly USDA) may search for prohibited/regulated agricultural items. Since they are all part of the CBP, they were the same uniform. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.85.180.103 (talk) 05:12, 21 November 2007 (UTC)

Commercial

This artical reads like a commercial, and it doesnt read in a nutral light. The writing style should be changed. 71.60.249.109 (talk) 15:24, 25 November 2007 (UTC)

Section which is not neutral or encyclopedic

The beginning of the section "behind the blue shirts" (a rather unencyclopedic title) reads as if it was written by a very disgruntled former U.S. Customs employee or other government insider. First, it launches into a diatribe about grievances without properly providing background information to readers, and secondly, it assumes a level of US-centrism that is excessive even for a United States-related topic. Editors with more knowledge of the subject matter, please help make the section NPOV and more comprehensible for non-specialist Wikipedia readers. Thanks. -Fsotrain⁰⁹ 17:04, 21 December 2007 (UTC)

"Criticisms" Placement

Could someone please move the "Criticisms" section? It should not be at the beginning of the article. If I knew how to, I would. Boter (talk) 01:26, 3 February 2008 (UTC)

Correct Name

The correct name is Bureau of Customs and Border Protection. It is, however, commonly referred to and stylized as U.S. Customs and Border Protection. -Joe 15 July 2008

I think there is more than colloquial deprecation to U.S. Customs and Border Protection. This is also a formal and official title, assuming for example that the image of the patch Image:United States Customs and Border Protection.jpg is legitimate ? Peet Ern (talk) 03:17, 16 July 2008 (UTC)

Right. U.S. Customs and Border Protection is widely and officially used. However, the fact remains that in all legality the agency exists as the United States Bureau of Customs and Border Protection. -Joe 16 July 2008

I highly doubt this and am unable to verify that the name is anything but "U.S. Customs and Border Protection". Please cite an official source if you believe it to be something else. Bankbryan (talk) 11:27, 3 August 2008 (UTC)

As an employee at CBP, I can tell you that all legal documents, including pay checks, state Bureau of Customs and Border Protection. I'm changing it back. -Joe 3 August 2008

Iam an officer at CBP all our paperwork says US Customs and Border Protection I have been here since before the merge, I have never heard of this Bureau thing...also this guy is lying because our paychecks since the merge have the USDA heading on them...agricultures payroll system took over in '03---mike —Preceding unsigned comment added by 63.167.255.152 (talk) 11:58, 2 September 2008 (UTC)

With all due respect Mike, check your USDA statement, at the top it should say Bureau of Customs and Border Protection. In addition check the three citations next to the title on the article. Although officially branded as U.S. Customs and Border Protection, it's standard name for governmental purposes is the United States Bureau of Customs and Border Protection. Thanks for calling me out as a liar though. - Joe

They told us at the academy that right after the merger the agency was answearing the phone "Bureau of Customs and Border Protection" but the FBI took offense to this because they wished to be the only agency with "Bureau" in thier name. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 173.8.55.193 (talk) 01:19, 30 June 2009 (UTC)

Criticism and citations

I've removed two claims that were either uncited (junk science) or the citations didn't actually support the text (being "blamed for allowing" the importation of dangerous products). I'm sure these aren't fictitious charges, but they'll need to be properly cited before they return to the article. - JeffJonez (talk) 13:33, 2 April 2009 (UTC)

My recent edits...

Could someone please check my recent edits to this article? I don't really know what I'm doing, and I'm following instructions from the person sending the images. I'm not certain if the edits are correct. J Milburn (talk) 23:29, 20 October 2009 (UTC)