Customs and Border Protection Officer Investigate and inspect persons, common carriers, goods, and merchandise, arriving in or departing from the United States or between states to detect violations of immigration and customs laws and regulations.
Customs and Border Protection Officer is Also Know as
In different settings, Customs and Border Protection Officer is titled as
- Canine Enforcement Officer (K-9 Enforcement Officer)
- Customs Inspector
- Customs Officer
- Import Specialist
- Inspector
- Special Agent
- US Customs and Border Protection Officer (US CBPO)
Education and Training of Customs and Border Protection Officer
Customs and Border Protection Officer is categorized in Job Zone Three: Medium Preparation Needed
Experience Required for Customs and Border Protection Officer
Previous work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is required for these occupations. For example, an electrician must have completed three or four years of apprenticeship or several years of vocational training, and often must have passed a licensing exam, in order to perform the job.
Education Required for Customs and Border Protection Officer
Most occupations in this zone require training in vocational schools, related on-the-job experience, or an associate's degree.
Degrees Related to Customs and Border Protection Officer
- Bachelor in Environmental/Natural Resources Law Enforcement an
- Associate Degree Courses in Environmental/Natural Resources Law Enforcement an
- Masters Degree Courses in Environmental/Natural Resources Law Enforcement an
- Bachelor in Criminal Justice and Corrections, General
- Associate Degree Courses in Criminal Justice and Corrections, General
- Masters Degree Courses in Criminal Justice and Corrections, General
- Bachelor in Criminal Justice/Police Science
- Associate Degree Courses in Criminal Justice/Police Science
- Masters Degree Courses in Criminal Justice/Police Science
- Bachelor in Law Enforcement Investigation and Interviewing
- Associate Degree Courses in Law Enforcement Investigation and Interviewing
- Masters Degree Courses in Law Enforcement Investigation and Interviewing
- Bachelor in Law Enforcement Record-Keeping and Evidence Manage
- Associate Degree Courses in Law Enforcement Record-Keeping and Evidence Manage
- Masters Degree Courses in Law Enforcement Record-Keeping and Evidence Manage
- Bachelor in Critical Incident Response/Special Police Operatio
- Associate Degree Courses in Critical Incident Response/Special Police Operatio
- Masters Degree Courses in Critical Incident Response/Special Police Operatio
Training Required for Customs and Border Protection Officer
Employees in these occupations usually need one or two years of training involving both on-the-job experience and informal training with experienced workers. A recognized apprenticeship program may be associated with these occupations.
Related Ocuupations
Some Ocuupations related to Customs and Border Protection Officer in different industries are
- Customs Brokers
- Detectives and Criminal Investigators
- Police and Sheriff's Patrol Officers
- Transit and Railroad Police
- Compliance Officers
- Transportation Security Screeners
- Private Detectives and Investigators
- Security Guards
- First-Line Supervisors of Police and Detectives
- Intelligence Analysts
- Government Property Inspectors and Investigators
- Cargo and Freight Agents
- Freight Forwarders
- Environmental Compliance Inspectors
- Agricultural Inspectors
- Transportation Inspectors
- Correctional Officers and Jailers
- Tax Examiners and Collectors, and Revenue Agents
- Probation Officers and Correctional Treatment Specialists
- Police Identification and Records Officers
What Do Customs and Border Protection Officer do?
- Examine immigration applications, visas, and passports and interview persons to determine eligibility for admission, residence, and travel in the U.S.
- Detain persons found to be in violation of customs or immigration laws and arrange for legal action, such as deportation.
- Locate and seize contraband, undeclared merchandise, and vehicles, aircraft, or boats that contain such merchandise.
- Interpret and explain laws and regulations to travelers, prospective immigrants, shippers, and manufacturers.
- Inspect cargo, baggage, and personal articles entering or leaving U.S. for compliance with revenue laws and U.S. customs regulations.
- Record and report job-related activities, findings, transactions, violations, discrepancies, and decisions.
- Institute civil and criminal prosecutions and cooperate with other law enforcement agencies in the investigation and prosecution of those in violation of immigration or customs laws.
- Testify regarding decisions at immigration appeals or in federal court.
- Determine duty and taxes to be paid on goods.
- Collect samples of merchandise for examination, appraisal, or testing.
- Investigate applications for duty refunds and petition for remission or mitigation of penalties when warranted.
Qualities of Good Customs and Border Protection Officer
- Oral Comprehension: The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
- Oral Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
- Near Vision: The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
- Inductive Reasoning: The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
- Problem Sensitivity: The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing that there is a problem.
- Written Comprehension: The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
- Speech Clarity: The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
- Deductive Reasoning: The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
- Speech Recognition: The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.
- Written Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
- Information Ordering: The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).
- Flexibility of Closure: The ability to identify or detect a known pattern (a figure, object, word, or sound) that is hidden in other distracting material.
- Far Vision: The ability to see details at a distance.
- Perceptual Speed: The ability to quickly and accurately compare similarities and differences among sets of letters, numbers, objects, pictures, or patterns. The things to be compared may be presented at the same time or one after the other. This ability also includes comparing a presented object with a remembered object.
- Selective Attention: The ability to concentrate on a task over a period of time without being distracted.
- Time Sharing: The ability to shift back and forth between two or more activities or sources of information (such as speech, sounds, touch, or other sources).
- Fluency of Ideas: The ability to come up with a number of ideas about a topic (the number of ideas is important, not their quality, correctness, or creativity).
- Finger Dexterity: The ability to make precisely coordinated movements of the fingers of one or both hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble very small objects.
- Category Flexibility: The ability to generate or use different sets of rules for combining or grouping things in different ways.
- Depth Perception: The ability to judge which of several objects is closer or farther away from you, or to judge the distance between you and an object.
- Auditory Attention: The ability to focus on a single source of sound in the presence of other distracting sounds.
- Speed of Closure: The ability to quickly make sense of, combine, and organize information into meaningful patterns.
- Visual Color Discrimination: The ability to match or detect differences between colors, including shades of color and brightness.
- Manual Dexterity: The ability to quickly move your hand, your hand together with your arm, or your two hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble objects.
- Memorization: The ability to remember information such as words, numbers, pictures, and procedures.
- Multilimb Coordination: The ability to coordinate two or more limbs (for example, two arms, two legs, or one leg and one arm) while sitting, standing, or lying down. It does not involve performing the activities while the whole body is in motion.
- Originality: The ability to come up with unusual or clever ideas about a given topic or situation, or to develop creative ways to solve a problem.
- Reaction Time: The ability to quickly respond (with the hand, finger, or foot) to a signal (sound, light, picture) when it appears.
- Visualization: The ability to imagine how something will look after it is moved around or when its parts are moved or rearranged.
- Arm-Hand Steadiness: The ability to keep your hand and arm steady while moving your arm or while holding your arm and hand in one position.
- Static Strength: The ability to exert maximum muscle force to lift, push, pull, or carry objects.
- Control Precision: The ability to quickly and repeatedly adjust the controls of a machine or a vehicle to exact positions.
- Mathematical Reasoning: The ability to choose the right mathematical methods or formulas to solve a problem.
- Trunk Strength: The ability to use your abdominal and lower back muscles to support part of the body repeatedly or continuously over time without "giving out" or fatiguing.
- Extent Flexibility: The ability to bend, stretch, twist, or reach with your body, arms, and/or legs.
- Number Facility: The ability to add, subtract, multiply, or divide quickly and correctly.
- Response Orientation: The ability to choose quickly between two or more movements in response to two or more different signals (lights, sounds, pictures). It includes the speed with which the correct response is started with the hand, foot, or other body part.
- Stamina: The ability to exert yourself physically over long periods of time without getting winded or out of breath.
- Hearing Sensitivity: The ability to detect or tell the differences between sounds that vary in pitch and loudness.
- Rate Control: The ability to time your movements or the movement of a piece of equipment in anticipation of changes in the speed and/or direction of a moving object or scene.
- Glare Sensitivity: The ability to see objects in the presence of a glare or bright lighting.
- Speed of Limb Movement: The ability to quickly move the arms and legs.
- Explosive Strength: The ability to use short bursts of muscle force to propel oneself (as in jumping or sprinting), or to throw an object.
- Gross Body Equilibrium: The ability to keep or regain your body balance or stay upright when in an unstable position.
- Gross Body Coordination: The ability to coordinate the movement of your arms, legs, and torso together when the whole body is in motion.
- Night Vision: The ability to see under low-light conditions.
- Peripheral Vision: The ability to see objects or movement of objects to one's side when the eyes are looking ahead.
- Wrist-Finger Speed: The ability to make fast, simple, repeated movements of the fingers, hands, and wrists.
- Spatial Orientation: The ability to know your location in relation to the environment or to know where other objects are in relation to you.
- Sound Localization: The ability to tell the direction from which a sound originated.
- Dynamic Strength: The ability to exert muscle force repeatedly or continuously over time. This involves muscular endurance and resistance to muscle fatigue.
- Dynamic Flexibility: The ability to quickly and repeatedly bend, stretch, twist, or reach out with your body, arms, and/or legs.
Tools Used by Customs and Border Protection Officer
- Barcode scanners
- Compound light microscopes
- Desktop computers
- Digital video cameras
- Fingerprint scanners
- Gamma ray spectrometers
- Hazardous material detectors
- Hydrometers
- Identification card scanners
- Ion mobility spectrometers
- Laptop computers
- Measurement calipers
- Metal handcuffs
- Mobile data computers
- Mobile truck X ray units
- Pepper spray
- Personal computers
- Personal radiation detectors PRD
- Plastic handcuffs
- Police shotguns
- Radiation isotope identifier devices RIID
- Radiation portal monitor terminals
- Radiation portal monitors RPM
- Radioisotope detection devices
- Security inspection mirrors
- Service revolvers
- Side-handle batons
- Tire deflation devices
- Two way radios
- Vehicle and Cargo Inspection System VACIS
- Videophones
- X ray inspection equipment
Technology Skills required for Customs and Border Protection Officer
- Automated Manifest System AMS
- Corel WordPerfect Office Suite
- Global positioning system GPS software
- IBM WebSphere MQ
- Law enforcement information databases
- Microsoft Excel
- Microsoft Office software
- Microsoft Outlook
- Microsoft Word
- National Crime Information Center (NCIC) database
- SAP software
- Treasury Enforcement Communications System TECS