There Are Heroes Among Us

Clark Kent was mildmannered and unassuming, yet, when needed, he became a hero, saving those at risk, the poor and downtrodden. Better known as Superman, he was, at least in the comic books, one person among us who simply did his job, often without fanfare or glamour.

There are real heroes among us, and from time to time one surfaces seeking nothing more than a quick thank you, if that, and back to work he or she goes. Such an event happened in mid-October when Boston firefighters responded to an apartment fire that threatened the lives of many.

He won’t admit to it, but Lt. Glenn McGillivray is a hero. What he will admit is that he was just doing his job when he caught a 6-year-old boy who was dropped from an upper floor of an apartment building that was engulfed in flames in Roxbury. The boy, Xavier, was dropped by his grandparents, who live on the third floor, into the waiting arms of McGillivray.

The firefighter described what he saw as the blaze enveloped the building: “She’s [the grandmother is] hanging on the inside of the window so she doesn’t fall out, and he was petrified as if he was gonna fall, so thankfully we got there in time to get underneath him and catch him,” he said.

McGillivray says he is not a hero. “It’s a job; we are just trying to do the best we can,” he said.

It may just be a job and one that firefighters seem to do so well. Hero isn’t a title you want to hang on just anyone, but the fact is, McGillivray and his fellow firefighters seem to have “heroic” written in their job descriptions, and in this case, as in so many others, the title is deserved.

Then There are the Cartels

Now, we turn from saving children to exploiting young people. The Texas Department of Public Safety says that several Mexican drug cartels are enticing children as young as 11 years old to work for them. Referred to as “the expendables,” these youngsters are lured into the cartels with the promise of easy money.

The children come from poor existences and can earn as much as $50 for moving a car from one location to another, which allows the cartel to determine if law enforcement has it under surveillance.

The cartels aren’t throwing out a safety net, nor are they going to catch any children in their arms if the little ones get into trouble. When a person gets mixed up with the drug cartels, there are always consequences, both with the cartels and law enforcement.

Mexican drug gangs, including the violent Zetas, have command and control centers in Texas that are actively recruiting children. Texas Department of Public Safety director Steven C. McCraw said 25 children have been arrested in one Texas border county alone in the past year from running drugs, acting as lookouts or doing other work for the organized syndicates. In October, law enforcement arrested a 12-year-old boy, who was in a stolen pickup with 800 pounds of marijuana.

Texas has joined the U.S. Customs and Border Protection in “Operation Detour,” where officers meet with children and their parents in schools and community centers to discuss the dangers of what appears to be easy money offered by the Mexican cartels. The drug business is a high-yield, low-overhead business, but the gangs can lure children into the fold with smaller sums of money, and children face less severe penalties than adults, if arrested.

It’s Time for Border Security

Texas officials have released a report suggesting that Mexican-based drug gangs plan to create a “sanitary zone” in the United States and are “intimidating landowners” in South Texas into allowing them to use their property as bases for drug-smuggling activity.

There has never been a better time for the federal government to rethink its border strategy and increase manpower and spending on the Rio Grande River. It’s true the government doesn’t have any money, but since that’s never stopped them before, this would help fight the burgeoning unemployment rates and curtail the ever-present flow of illegal drugs.

In the report, “Texas Border Security: A Strategic Military Assessment,” CBP officials openly admit that there are several areas along the U.S. border and on our side of the fence that are under cartel control. According to the report, there is a massive spillover of evacuees fleeing the violence in Mexico, including innocent civilians as well as criminals trying to escape the violence.

It’s time for the current White House administration to focus on the U.S.-Mexican border, deploy security measures that will help ranchers in the border states and bring a semblance of peace to Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California.

The authors of this report, Barry R. McCaffrey, a retired four-star general, and Robert H. Scales, a retired two-star general, stated in the strategic view of the report that “America’s fight against narcoterrorism, when viewed at the strategic level, takes on the classic trappings of a real war. Crime, gangs and terrorism have converged in such a way that they form a collective threat to the national security of the United States.”

Texas has become so threatened by the spread of Mexican cartel organized crime during the past two years, it has been noted that there is a change in the strategic intent of the cartels to move their operations into the United States and to create a so-called “sanitary zone” at least one county deep to evade Mexican law enforcement and enable the cartels to transform Texas border counties into narcotics trans-shipment points.

The cartels achieve their objectives by organizing gangs who are expendable and have unaccountable manpower to do their dirty work. They recruit on the streets and from prison gangs, such as the Mexican Mafia, Texas Syndicate, Tango Blast, Barrio Azteca and many others.

Federal authorities have been weak to admit an ever-increasing cross-border campaign by narco-terrorists, and denial has been facilitated by a dearth of evidence that an organized and substantial campaign exists inside Texas.

It is time for the White House to come to the realization that the fear and anxiety levels among Texas farmers and ranchers have grown enormously over the past two years, and that living on the border is tantamount to living in a war zone. There is a war of terrorism at home; it’s time the White House wakes up to these evident truths that are affecting this country’s youngest citizens.

This article originally appeared in the December 2011 issue of Security Today.

Featured

  • The Key to Wellbeing in the Office

    A few years ago, all we saw in the news was the ‘great resignation.’ Now we have another ‘great’ to deal with. According to CBRE, 2023 was the start of the ‘great return’ as office workers returned to their normal offices after working from home. The data shows that two-thirds of all U.S office buildings were more than 90% leased as of Q2 2023. Read Now

  • Failed Cybersecurity Controls Costing U.S. Businesses $30 Billion Yearly

    Panaseer recently released ControlWatch and the Continuous Controls Battle: Panaseer 2025 Security Leaders Report examining the cost of cybersecurity control failures and the impact of growing personal liability for security failings on security leaders. The report analyzes the findings of a survey of 400 security decision makers (SDMs) across the US and UK. It shows that security leaders feel under increasing pressure to provide assurances around cybersecurity, exposing them to greater personal risk – yet many lack the data and resources to accurately report and close cybersecurity gaps. Read Now

  • The Business Case for Video Analytics: Understanding the Real ROI

    For security professionals who may be hesitant to invest in video analytics, now's the time to reconsider. In a newly released Omdia report commissioned by BriefCam (now Milestone Systems), the research firm uncovered a compelling story: more than 85% of North American and European organizations that use video analytics achieve a return on investment within just one year. The study, which surveyed 140 end users across multiple industries, demonstrates that security technology is no longer just for security — it's a cross-organizational tool that delivers measurable business value far beyond traditional safety applications. Read Now

  • Survey: 54% of Organizations Cite Technical Debt as Top Hurdle to Identity System Modernization

    Modernizing identity systems is proving difficult for organizations due to two key challenges: decades of accumulated Identity and Access Management (IAM) technical debt and the complexity of managing access across multiple identity providers (IDPs). These findings come from the new Strata Identity-commissioned report, State of Multi-Cloud Identity: Insights and Trends for 2025. The report, based on survey data from the Cloud Security Alliance (CSA), highlights trends and challenges in securing cloud environments. The CSA is the world’s leading organization dedicated to defining standards, certifications, and best practices to help ensure a secure cloud computing environment. Read Now

Featured Cybersecurity

Webinars

New Products

  • HD2055 Modular Barricade

    Delta Scientific’s electric HD2055 modular shallow foundation barricade is tested to ASTM M50/P1 with negative penetration from the vehicle upon impact. With a shallow foundation of only 24 inches, the HD2055 can be installed without worrying about buried power lines and other below grade obstructions. The modular make-up of the barrier also allows you to cover wider roadways by adding additional modules to the system. The HD2055 boasts an Emergency Fast Operation of 1.5 seconds giving the guard ample time to deploy under a high threat situation. 3

  • AC Nio

    AC Nio

    Aiphone, a leading international manufacturer of intercom, access control, and emergency communication products, has introduced the AC Nio, its access control management software, an important addition to its new line of access control solutions. 3

  • ResponderLink

    ResponderLink

    Shooter Detection Systems (SDS), an Alarm.com company and a global leader in gunshot detection solutions, has introduced ResponderLink, a groundbreaking new 911 notification service for gunshot events. ResponderLink completes the circle from detection to 911 notification to first responder awareness, giving law enforcement enhanced situational intelligence they urgently need to save lives. Integrating SDS’s proven gunshot detection system with Noonlight’s SendPolice platform, ResponderLink is the first solution to automatically deliver real-time gunshot detection data to 911 call centers and first responders. When shots are detected, the 911 dispatching center, also known as the Public Safety Answering Point or PSAP, is contacted based on the gunfire location, enabling faster initiation of life-saving emergency protocols. 3