Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs, who visited Sierra Vista on Wednesday, announced that Cochise County will receive more than $41 million from the Arizona Border Patrol Fund. The funds will be donated to local law enforcement agencies in Cochise County to strengthen border security and purchase new equipment.
“Our rural communities are tense and often called upon to carry out missions without being provided with the necessary tools,” Hobbes said at a press conference at Cochise University’s Sierra Vista campus.
More than $35 million will be paid to the Cochise County Sheriff’s Office and about $4 million to police departments around Cochise County. The Sierra Vista Police Department will receive $108,000, the Bisbee Police Department $1,374,494, and the Huachuca City Police Department $148,693. The Tombstone Sheriff’s Department will receive $795,010 and the Wilcox Department of Public Safety $1,367,509. The cities of Benson and Douglas will receive $1,525,958 and $194,178, respectively.
Asked if the fund was a one-time investment in the county, Hobbes said it would be up to the Border Patrol Fund.
“Obviously, we have to work with the legislature, and we may see budget cuts in the next budget cycle,” Hobbs said. “But we will do everything in our power to continue to do what we can to keep Arizona residents safe.”
Cochise County Sheriff Mark Dunnells said the funds will also go toward incarceration, personnel and equipment costs for the new Southeast Arizona Joint Intelligence and Border Operations Center.
“The Border Operations Center of its kind will be the first Border Operations Center in the region to handle both human trafficking, human smuggling, and all types of border-related crime, and will be networked throughout Arizona and beyond, allowing us to begin identifying cartel members operating within the United States and continue to tackle criminal cartels across the border in the South,” said Danells.
A CCSO spokeswoman said the department was given $5 million to purchase the building from the governor’s office during the Ducey administration. Of the approximately 80 employees that will be housed at the facility, sheriff’s agents, Border Patrol and Homeland Security Investigation Service (HSI) personnel will also reside in the building.
The Sierra Vista Police Department and the Arizona Department of Public Safety will not be staffing the new operations center, he said.
Dunnels said border-related incarceration has cost the county $1.3 million in losses over the past five months.
“Cochise County has cost us a total of $5.6 million over the past 18 months,” Dunnells said. He said Arizona has the most fentanyl seizures in the nation. According to data released by US Customs and Border ProtectionA total of 21,845 pounds of fentanyl have been seized along the Southwest border from fiscal 2023 to date. CBP’s Tucson District, which includes Cochise County, seized 623 pounds of fentanyl this year.
Hobbes also spoke about education during the visit.
“The last time I was here, I heard from staff at Cochise Community College that they had to deal with immigrants crossing the campus, but they didn’t have the capacity to do so properly,” Hobbes said.
Hobbs said Cochise County will receive $8 million for broadband Internet expansion, part of about $1 billion received by the Governor’s Office from the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Broadband, Equity, Access and Deployment Program (BEAD).
Dr. JD Rottweiler, President of Cochise University, said broadband Internet access has become an essential utility for university staff and students. The Douglas campus, which opened in 1964 on 550 acres, has no broadband Internet access, Rottweiler said.
“We’ve run state-of-the-art community colleges with rural community colleges, T1 lines, and microwave systems,” Rottweiler said. “This fiber optic initiative will allow us to bring high speed internet to our campus, which will help us welcome the new ports of entry, all the economic growth and all the new educational opportunities this will provide.”
