Customs Inspectors Research Articles

Towards the Responsible Use of Veterinary Drugs

The citizens of this world are immersed in a chemical society, a social fabric largely held together by the intelligent use of agricultural chemicals, drugs, and other useful compounds. Paradoxically, the world order is today threatened by the irresponsible use of certain of these substances. The first step in the fact-finding process was the imposition of an import alert ordering U.S. Customs inspectors to specifically look for the unauthorized importation of veterinary drugs. The import alert confirmed our suspicions-unapproved drugs were being imported for use in various species of animals in the U.S. The second step involved an FDA survey of cattle feedlots. Twenty-five percent of surveyed feedlots stocked unapproved drugs on a routine basis including prescription compounds. A survey conducted under the aegis of USDA's Residue Avoidance Program drew the same essential conclusions. Third, diversion of prescription drugs, unapproved chemicals, drugs approved for other species, and other similar deviations as reported to BVM / FDA were increasing at an appreciable rate.

Behavioral roots of person perception: The deception judgments of customs inspectors and laymen.

Behavioral roots of person perception: The deception judgments of customs inspectors and laymen.

Behavioral roots of person perception: The deception judgments of customs inspectors and laymen.

Typically, person perception research requires subjects to make inferences about others on the basis of verbal descriptions while it denies them the physical cues which may underlie many social judgments. In contrast to this traditional paradigm, we tried to assess the physical cues that people use in a social judgment and to examine the generality of their use across perceivers. Professional inspectors in the U.S. Customs Service and laymen judged whether they wanted to search airline passengers going through a mock customs inspection. An analysis of travelers' demographic characteristics and verbal and nonverbal behaviors showed that judges' decisions to search travelers were based primarily on the travelers' comportment. Comportment both mediated the effects of demographic characteristics and had direct effects on decisions. Twenty-one variables accounted for 72% of the variance in search decisions, and 6 variables accounted for 60% of the variance. Bivariate analyses show that travelers were most likely to be searched if they were young and lower class, appeared nervous, hesitated before answering, gave short answers, avoided eye contact with the interviewer, shifted their posture, and had taken pleasure trips. Individual differences among judges—inspectors versus laymen, successful versus less successful inspectors, and high self-monitors versus low self-monitors—had little effect on the cues they used. The results demonstrate the value of a social psychophysical approach to person perception that focuses on the behavior of the perceived.

The Antiquities Market: News and Commentary on the Illicit Traffic in Antiquities

AbstractWind God Foils Smuggler's Breeze through CustomsLaura Scanlan's article describing the seizure at U.S. Customs and the eventual return to Mexico of several important Precolumbian artifacts is reprinted here with permission from Customs Today, 17:2 (1982) 2–3. Both the story itself and the act of reprinting emphasize the growing cooperation between archaeologists and the U.S. Customs Bureau in cases involving antiquities. Karen Bruhns and Connie Fenchel (see below) have been an effective team in pursuing cases involving antiquities smuggling in the San Francisco area. In the Bernstein case (see below “A Lawyer Looks at U.S. Antiquities Laws”) archaeologists also provided professional evaluations and consultation to customs officials. Both the Mexican case described here by Scanlan and the Bernstein case were initiated through improper customs declarations, which were recognized by alert customs inspectors familiar with the value of antiquities and the significance of the illicit trade.These cases s...

TASK ANALYSIS IN THE DESIGN OF THREE CONCURRENT VALIDITY STUDIES OF THE PROFESSIONAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE CAREER EXAMINATION1

The U.S. Civil Service Commission conducted three criterion‐related validity studies for its PACE Test. The occupations studied were Customs Inspector, Internal Revenue Officer, and Social Security Administration Claims Authorizes The criterion instruments for each study included a specially designed supervisory rating form, job information test, and work sample. For each criterion, scores were obtained separately for the occupational duties. A computer‐analyzed task inventory was the keystone of the validity study. Data provided by the task inventory served the following functions: (a) to determine the extent of homogeneity of the occupation, (b) to select subjects for inclusion in the research study if the occupation turned out to be heterogeneous, (c) to measure the importance of the tasks performed in the occupation in order to constuct valid criterion instruments, and (d) to weight duty performance scores obtained by the research participants according to time spent in order to arrive at an overall measure of job success for each criterion instrument. Task inventory data were used in a somewhat different manner to construct the various criterion measures. Summary duty descriptions consisting of the most time‐consuming tasks comprised the supervisory rating and ranking scales. Job information test items were employed if they measured the most time‐consuming duties. The linkage between specific duties and the work sample items was made after the fact, since the work sample measured integral units of work performance. Only one time‐consuming duty could not be measured by the criterion tests for one of the three occupations. It was concluded that the research design fostered the demonstration of the high validity of the PACE test.

The Yukon Waterway in the Development of Interior Alaska

MUCH OF ALASKA must still be considered a frontier region, although white men have been exploring and exploiting the area for more than two hundred years. In contrast to the permanently ice-free coast south of the Alaska Peninsula, and the more northerly coasts, open to navigation during summer months, the great mass of interior Alaska, with its gold and furs, has been difficult to conquer. To penetrate the interior the early explorer was forced to leave the comparative comfort and safety of a ship and travel inland by foot, dogsled, river boat, or raft. The climate is far more severe than along the coast, and little exploration could be done during the winter. Economic considerations, however, have to some extent led men to overcome physical obstacles, and settlement has slowly increased. The interior is drained largely by the 1,979-mile Yukon River, the fourth longest river on the North American continent. The Yukon basin comprises about 56 per cent of the land area of present-day Alaska, and by 1950 the number of white persons living in the Yukon basin had reached about twenty thousand.' Most of these were concerned directly or indirectly with fur trapping and gold mining, although today an increasing number are in Alaska to serve the needs of the expanding military establishment. Because the basin is separated from the southern coast by the formidable Alaska Range, the easiest natural routes into the interior are along the Yukon, either upstream from its mouth or downstream from its headwaters in British Columbia near the head of the inside waterway from Seattle. The early explorers using the first route were faced with the necessity of combating the river's current, and they had only four ice-free months in which to do it. Later, prospectors opened up the second route after overcoming difficulties caused by hostile Indians and customs inspectors. Somewhat more slowly several overland winter routes were developed, and in 1923 the completion of the Alaska Railroad from the south coast at Seward to Fairbanks in the interior brought