Opinion: Train Local Police in Vehicle Security
I>President
ommercial Vehicle Safety Alliance
Shortly after Sept. 11, when I last had the privilege of communicating with you in this column, I stressed the need for the roadside safety officer to meet new challenges in addition to making sure we have safe trucks and buses through our roadside inspection program.
Almost immediately, we realized that our surface transportation system was vulnerable to potential terrorist attacks. Many of us were dispatched to guard bridges, tunnels, ports, even airports, in addition to scrutinizing hazardous materials shipments more closely. But most of all, we had to draw on our basic training as police officers, which when coupled with experience on the job, helps us develop skills to spot the unusual and investigate it.Indeed, we owe a debt of gratitude to all of the roadside inspectors who have met this dual challenge since Sept. 11.
I would like to think — in fact, I truly believe — that, just maybe, some of the efforts of the more than 10,000 roadside inspectors throughout North America have helped prevent potential terrorist attacks in our surface transportation infrastructure by doing double duty.
And now, in view of recent warnings from our government about possible terrorist attacks involving our transportation system, we need to do more by expanding our resources and being even more vigilant.
I believe one way to enhance security on our highways and further ensure safety is to make use of a very powerful resource — the more than 600,000 county and municipal law enforcement officers in this country. Yes, I am talking about reaching out and training “local” police.
Let me make it clear: I am not talking about training them to be inspectors or truck specialists. This is neither advisable nor practical.
I suggest educating as many law enforcement officers as we can to provide them with a basic familiarity with commercial vehicles so they’re not reluctant to stop a vehicle that may be going too fast or have odd markings. Every police officer should be able to effectively negotiate a traffic enforcement stop and have knowledge of the required permits and documents that currently make commercial vehicle enforcement so intimidating. Because of their experience and training, they already possess highly developed powers of observation and superior interviewing stills. We must empower these officers to interdict criminal activity and stop it at its source.
We would train them how to do basic truck traffic enforcement, such as issuing a citation in a uniform way so it can be fed into an appropriate database and checking other basic credentials of the driver and the shipment. Better traffic enforcement is an issue that surfaces in almost every highway safety forum I have participated in as president of the
Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance. And Joe Clapp, administrator of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, has said on numerous occasions that better traffic enforcement is a top priority in his agency. We believe this approach will enhance both safety and security on our highways as well as protect against theft.
Perhaps the traffic enforcement idea is the easier one to grasp. But how do we train local officers to do to enhance security? Here are a few examples from the experiences of our roadside inspectors since Sept. 11 that I hope will be multiplied many times over with the addition of hundreds of thousands of other police officers.
In Michigan, an inspector stopped a utility van that didn’t look right because it didn’t have the usual commercial markings and logos that would identify the nature of its business. This prevented a theft of hazardous materials. Substitute a rental truck in this example and it brings to mind the Oklahoma City bombing incident.
Two officers from the Iowa Department of Transportation Motor Vehicle Enforcement Office discovered more than $400,000 worth of illegal drugs because their training prompted them to be suspicious of a truck tractor that was not pulling a semitrailer and had none of the required markings on the cab door. After stopping the truck, the officers noticed the strong smell of marijuana. They also found cocaine. The drivers did not have proper identification. The matter was referred to the Immigration and Naturalization Service.
Another recent example that helps make my point was the efforts that led to the recovery of a 2002 Kenworth and its cargo of sodium cyanide hijacked outside Mexico City. When we train all police officers to see the obvious they won’t hesitate to take action. The ability to know when something is out of place is a learned trait.
CVSA offers its full commitment to establishing this widespread training program. But we cannot do it alone. We will need the help of groups such as the International Association of Chiefs of Police, Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration and Research and Special Programs Administration as well as industry efforts such as American Trucking Associations’ Highway Watch program. These groups can bring their expertise to this effort and improve it. The combined challenge of safety and security extends beyond a single group or organization.
Remember this: In a time of crisis, such as the one we now face, only when we join forces can we make a difference.
The Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance is an organization of federal, state and provincial trucking safety enforcement officers in the United States, Canada and Mexico that works with government and the truck and bus industries on safety issues. The writer is a lieutenant in the Massachusetts State Police.
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I>This story appeared in the June 10 print edition of Transport Topics. Subscribe today.
