Customs Officer

Customs Officer

[ music ] >> we're at the heart that keeps this country beating.

We're at the wanda wells port terminal, where looking at it, i see thousands upon thousands of containers, containing everything from household goods to all sorts of consumer products.

I'm here with the officer brett mueller and thank you for letting us come in and take a sneak peek of what you do here.

And ports are not the only place where customs has a major presence.

>> we're keeping dangerous things and people from entering the united states borders, and that can happen in a sea port environment like this one in charleston, or land port of entry.

>> i want to sigh your guys in action, and will you take us to it?

>> absolutely, let's go take a look.

Officer mueller shows us the process for unsuspecting these containers, saturdaying with a look inside from the outside.

>> this is a radiation emitting, non-intrusive inspection truck, and what it does, it uses a form of x-ray technology to scan each container and let the operator know a approximately what it los like inside.

>> but sometimes things don't match up.

>> what's supposed to be in the container in advance of the rival.

Rive -- arrival.

So we have a rough idea what have is supposed to be in it, and if we don't see that, it's a cause for concerns, and the followup for the investigation, in terms of the resources, the officers who are trained in physical examination of these commodities, and we also have the canines checking for the narcotics risk, and we have an agriculture specialist out here as well.

And she's looking for agriculture of violations, size packing material that could have insects crawling around that could be harmful to the u.s. farming or forestry industry.

She's looking at the wood packing material for what is left over when a bug has started to eat wood.

>> at that moment, something catches the eye of the agricultural specialist, robin evers.

>> we need to look farther into this to see if we see more.

We'll send this to an etmologist and if it causes problems for wood, like forestry or lumber, it will be ex ported.

>> this creepy crawly is detained but what about immediate risks like terrorism?

>> if we find something that stands out, a weapon of terrorism, that would be identified.

And we'll deal with that on the terminal.

We would get other agency partners involved 20 isolate the container and try to determine as safely as possible what it is that causes the source of concern.

Thankfully, we have not come across anything that has been a big terrorism concern, and that's the primary mission, to help the bored.

>> we want to thank supervisor mueller for showing us how it gets done.

A process that keeps us safe every day.

Right now, i have the privilege of talking with customs and border control.

When you decided on becoming a law enforcement officer, what was it about customs that kind of captured your interest.

>> it was an opportunity to stay home.

I served in the marine corp a long time ago, out of high school.

And it gave me another chance to fulfill my obligation, and get back the sense of duty that i wanted.

You have us customs and border patrol under operations that are responsible for inspecting everyone that comes into the united states.

And we're responsible for monitoring the cargo that comes into the united states, and we're responsible for inspecting everything that comes with the u.s. ships, and every train and automobile that come across the mexico and canadian border.

>> it's a tireless process to keep this country safe.

And going back to what we saw over at the containers and what we examined, you look behind us, and there are thousands of containers out there, and one of your acts, your officers, found a single insect she took for further review so.

When they're examining, they're looking at a sinnerilla of evidence that could pose a threat to this country.

>> that's one of our agriculture specialists, so while we have a mission they are scientists in uniform.

They're not law enforcement officers, but they're looking for those certain insects, because we have certain insects that we don't want in the united states that would ruin our agriculture and meats that come into the united states, we want to protect our agriculture.

>> let's talk about charleston being the one of the main ports on the east side, and we're already seeing some of the mega ships coming in carrying even more containers and goods into this country, so you're in need of officers at this point.

You're always recruiting but now, you have five terminals, and you'll be having six in the next couple of years.

>> customs and border protections has a steady improvement drive for the last five years.

Last year, we hired 1,000 agencies and 1300 border patrol agents nationwide.

And in the last years, we had 600 of each.

So you see the need there, but we still need mo more officers d acts.

>> what are you looking for?

>> someone who is loyal and trustworthy and hard working and flexible, teamwork, but still able to work on their own.

>> and speaking of flexible, you could train locally, but you could be dispatched to another location.

Let's talk about some of your veteran recruits.

You yourself are a veteran, but there's a program in place where some of the veterans who qualify can stay here at home?

>> we have about six, and they're open for a monthly basis, and they open at the begin of the month and close at the end, but a new one opens up at the end of every month.

We have recruitment for eligible veterans, so for those vra veterans, we have the power to negotiate.

>> let's talk about salary.

>> okay.

>> so when you first enter in, and when you enter at the bottom running, you don't get -- usual not making what you would love to be making in the next couple of years.

But don't let that discourage you.

Because you talk about training and how you can work your way up in the ranks.

>> as far as salary, you can come in at one of three grades.

Gs5, 7 or 9.

And it all depends on your education.

So the gs salary is $95,000.

And gs7 is $43,000.

And gs9, 52, $53,000.

You're guaranteed proposes up to gs12.

In charleston, it's $76,000 a year, and we have possible overtime.

And there are sunday differentials, every sunday, you work time and a half.

And holidays, double time.

And how much you work overtime.

>> life insurance?

>> there are due to working in law enforcement great benefits.

We have great health insurance, and different providers that you can choose from, we have the cines program, if there are any issues that you address if your personal life.

>> and training, you get paid not only a salary, but your housing covered and your bills paid.

Sounds great to me.

How do people apply.

>> you can go to usa jobs.gov or go to cdp.gov/careers/apply now.

And it will show you all of the jobs open at cdp.

>> let me ask you another question.

What do you love most about this job.

>> sense of duty.

A lot of people think that the only way you can protect your country is in the military, but there are a lot of other ways to protect your nation.

>> right here at home on u.s. soil.

It has been a pleasure to talk to you, and we'll have all of that information on our website.

Foxcharleston.com.