FTS News

TRUCKERS LEARN TO WATCH OUT FOR TERRORISTS
By Rachel Raskin-Zrihen – Times Herald staff writer

A local truck driving school became the first on the West Coast to be training for a new federal anti-terrorism program, the school’s owner and the instructor said.

Robert Hertan, an instructor from Maryland-based Total Security Services International, Inc., led the three-hour class at Vallejo’s Falcon Truck School recently. He said the federal Transportation Security Administration hired his firm to train transportation professionals for the “First Observer” program.

“This is a Department of Homeland Security program, funded by FEMA and administered by the TSA,” Hertan said.

The heart of the training is to use truckers to keep an eye out for – and report – suspicious behavior that could be part of a terrorist operation or some other attack like that on the state capitol eight years ago.

Timing and convenience combined to make Falcon the first school to get this training, but it’s spreading nationwide, Hertan said. Some trucking and school bus firms have been trained, and though specific results are unavailable, it’s working, he said. “We wouldn’t be doing it if it wasn’t providing some value,” Hertan said.

“The TSA clearly recognizes the vital role America’s critical infrastructure plays in maintaining and preserving our American way of life and has made protecting that infrastructure a top priority,” according to the program’s literature.

“First Observer engages surface transportation professionals – truck drivers, school bus operators, mass transit workers, port workers and others – in maintaining the safety and security of America’s bridges, tunnels and roads.”

“The average truck spends 100,000 miles on the highway a year – 10 times more than an average car,” Falcon instructor Mike Meagher said. “So recruiting truckers as extra eyes and ears on the highway makes sense,” he said

Falcon owner Tim Seymour, a former Fairfield resident now living in Palm Springs, summed it up. “The idea is to train truckers to be able to identify suspicious activity, to assess what they observe and report it,” he said.

Hertan told the Falcon instructors that a First observer-type program might have made a difference in the 2004 Madrid commuter train bombings, Seymour said. “Someone actually saw someone leave a backpack on a train, but no one reported it, and we all know what happened there,” he said. (More than 191 people were killed and 1,800 others injured in Madrid on March 11, 2004, when terrorists set off a coordinated series of bombs on commuter trains.)

Transportation professionals are given a special phone number to report suspicious activity, said Seymour, whose parents founded Falcon in 1982. Seymour said he and his wife Suzanne took over the operation in 2002.

“We were told not to try confronting anyone. Just if you see something a little bit off, call,” he said. Calls go to a special center, were trained operators assess it and route it to the appropriate authorities, Hertan said. Hertan told the Falcon instructors there is no such thing as a stupid call, the men said.

An example of something a trucker would recognize as “a little off,” that the average motorist might not, would be the truck that in January, 2001, was intentionally driven into the state capitol in Sacramento, Falcon instructor Robert Richardson said.

“That truck was too long, too big to be there, it was illegal to be there,” said Richardson, a former CHP officer now living in Red Bluff. “If I’d seen it, I would have known there was something wrong, and I would have called 911.”

Certain graffiti can be a terrorist message, the men were told. People hanging around where they don’t seem to belong, a gas tanker parked on the Bay Bridge or downtown – anything a trucker might recognize as unusual or out of place, should prompt a call, the truckers learned.

“Even if one call doesn’t amount to anything, if they put together enough seemingly random information, they could discover evidence of a terror cell operating,” said Meagher, a Cordelia resident. “I also tell my students to watch out for their own equipment, to be observant. You can unwittingly become the carrier of explosives that can do damage.”

Among the most shocking things the men said they learned was “what five pounds of C-4 can do to a Greyhound bus,” Richardson said. “Disintegrates it completely. They showed that on a video.”

Falcon’s instructors said they never expected to be on the front lines of the nation’s war on terror. “But truckers tend to be pretty patriotic, always have been,” Meagher said. “We’re more than willing to do this. The threat exists and we all have to pay attention if we want to keep our nation safe.” First Observers is an extension of “Highway Watchers,” a similar program launched shortly after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, he said

Seymour said he will be developing a First Observer-based curriculum element over the next several weeks, and include it in Falcon students’ regular coursework starting in October.

Published in the Vallejo, California Times-Herald newspaper on September 10, 2009
 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  SO … YOU WANT TO BECOME A
TRUCK DRIVER?

Did you know?

-         Penske Logistics, Inc. recently released a report that stated that the United States will need 400,000 new entry level drivers before the end of 2011?

-         An entry-level driver typically starts at an annual compensation level of $36,000 to $40,000 per year and there are generally annual increases after the first year?

-         Many companies provide company benefits such as insurance, retirement plans, vacations and bonuses?

-         Demand for drivers is likely to remain strong for the foreseeable future?

-         The truck driving occupation can never be outsourced?

So what should I do next?

You should select a quality school and interview the school to determine where you would like to attend. You should look at, and talk to several types of training programs in order to find one that is appropriate for you and that you are comfortable with.

How do I get a job?

Once you have chosen a training program, you should begin to work with the placement department of that program. Trying to find a job on your own can be a major waste of time, and you could easily wind up accepting a job with a company that does not fit your needs.

Commercial driver training programs employ placement coordinators that will assist you in finding a job that is the right fit for you. These coordinators are well versed on the requirements of individual companies and how you would fit with various companies. They know which companies are hiring from your area, and how you would fit in with them.

Trucking companies form relationships with training programs based on the history of the previous graduates from the organization’s program. If you pick a quality training program, you will have an “inside track” to being hired by these companies because the motor carrier employer is already familiar with the quality of the training program and the safety record of drivers from the program.

Motor carrier employers receive many applications, and they must sort through them in order to consider them all. Work with your placement coordinator to make sure that yours goes to the top of the stack.

Good luck with your new career.

Published in the November 2010 issue of Student Driver Placement magazine

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