The Source for Trucking News, Opinions and Trucking Jobs | Highway Watch

The ATA got 19.3 million this year to train truck drivers to help in Homeland Security. That seems like a lot of money to give people a super secret special phone number. I received an email from OOIDA about a survey they were doing about the Highway watch progam. I was very negative about the whole thing. I think it’s a waste of time and money. Here’s part of the reason for that – (I cringe every time a truck driver is interviewed,)

Homeland Security ‘Highway Watch’ Stasi Program Trains Americans to Spy on Each Other

After the session in Little Rock, two newly initiated Highway Watch members sat down for the catered barbecue lunch. The truckers, who haul hazardous material across 48 states, explained how easy it is to spot “Islamics” on the road: just look for their turbans. Quite a few of them are truck drivers, says William Westfall of Van Buren, Ark. “I’ll be honest. They know they’re not welcome at truck stops. There’s still a lot of animosity toward Islamics.” Eddie Dean of Fort Smith, Ark., also has little doubt about his ability to identify Muslims: “You can tell where they’re from. You can hear their accents. They’re not real clean people.”

“Look for the turbans”, that’s a brilliant piece of detective work, Gomer. Is that all he got out of the expensive seminar? That and a barbecue lunch. That comment may not be typical, but there are a lot of people like that. That guys quote was probably edited by the reporter and raghead was replaced with Islamic. “They’re not real clean”? People can say the same thing about a lot of the truck drivers out here.

That kind of prejudice is hard to undo, but it’s a shame Beatty’s slide show did not mention that in the U.S., it’s almost always Sikhs who wear turbans, not Muslims. Last year a Sikh truck driver who was wearing a turban was shot twice while standing near his tractor trailer in Phoenix, Ariz. He survived the attack, which police are investigating as a hate crime.

And now these Gomers’ feel empowered to rat on them raghead’s. Why can’t we keep on eye out for suspicious activity without a class. And use the 19 mill for something worthwhile instead of ATA pork. Next year it’s going to be expanded (more money).

So how exactly does one spot a terrorist on the highway? Members of Highway Watch are given a secret toll-free number to report any suspicious behavior — people taking pictures of bridges, for example, or passengers handling heavy backpacks with unusual care. “We want to hear from you when something just doesn’t look right,” Beatty said. “Say you’re out at a truck stop and you see someone hanging out near your truck, wearing a jacket. Maybe it’s too hot out for a jacket. Go back inside, alert someone and check him out through the window.”

ATA needs 19 million for that?

The Highway Watch website boasts that the program is open to “an elite core [sic] of truck drivers” who must have clean driving and employment records. In fact, their records are not vetted by the American Trucking Associations. At the Little Rock event, some came in off the street without preregistering.

ATA had to fill the seats so they go to the truck stop and get some drivers that have nothing better to do and offer them a free lunch.

However, the organization is highly security conscious about other parts of its operations. It refuses to disclose the exact location of its hotline call center or the number of operators working there. “It could be infiltrated,” says Dawn Apple, Highway Watch’s director of training and recruitment.

Infiltrated? Aren’t we taking this super secret stuff a little too seriously?

What’s clear is that Highway Watch is a morale booster for drivers. “I don’t want to sound too hokey, but truck drivers are a very patriotic bunch,” says Mike Russell, a spokesman for the organization. “It made sense for us to take advantage of what we do every day — which is, basically, patrol major highways through a windshield.”

And it gives us a ton of money to blow and make us feel important.
Here we have the results of that specialized training and free barbecue lunch –

Just three days after his training in Little Rock, veteran Wal-Mart truck driver Danny Ewell found cause to call Highway Watch. On Father’s Day, as he was leaving a Red Lobster in Johnson City, Tenn., he saw a young man walking between two cars with an orange T shirt draped over his arm. Peeking out from under the T shirt was a semiautomatic weapon. “Because of the training, I knew to look at his height and his hair color, and I got the make and plates of his car,” Ewell says. “Normally I would have just looked at his clothes. But now I know to look for things that won’t change.” Ewell called 911 and Highway Watch. Local police responded but were unable to find the man. Ewell, at least, had done his part.

Why make two calls? After getting his plate number he disappeared in thin air? Can’t they look up your home address if they have your license plate number? At least he done his part, good job trucker.

But — and this is important — Highway Watch members are just messengers, not superheroes, Beatty said. The hotline call center in Kentucky logs the information it receives in a database and contacts law enforcement when necessary. It usually isn’t. Of the 200 or so calls that come in each month, only about 10 have anything to do with suspected terrorism. Most callers report abandoned vehicles, stranded motorists or roadway hazards.

We’re spending an ungodly amount of money for a super secret call center to report abandoned vehicles and roadway hazards? What kind of moron calls Highway Watch about a road hazard? 10 calls out of 200 have anything to do with terrorism. Maybe we need a class about what kind of calls to make to the Highway Watch and when to call local authorities.

Highway Watch members are instructed to look for certain kinds of behavior — not certain kinds of people. “Profiling is bad. Bad, bad, bad,” Beatty said.

Gomer must have missed that part of the class.

I’m not against reporting terrorists and protecting America. I question this method. Maybe a little training and some pamphlets. But an entire program adminstered by ATA with a secret call center and high dollar instructors? 19 million this year, 22 million next year, for what? It’s a good idea that some bureaucrat got a hold of and it got out of control.

UPDATE: An anonymous comment was posted that I deleted mainly because I don’t like “anonymous” comments. But maybe this point wasn’t clear – I’m pretty sure Homeland Security or the ATA class that Gomer went to, DID NOT teach him to recognize “Islamics” by the turban. I was being sarcastic.