Administration, Management Personnel
& Training Officers…Please Read!
Law enforcements goal is not only that of a first responder…
it’s a goal of prevention!
The Desert Snow, Advanced Highway Criminal Interdiction training program was established in 1990, due to the lack of training throughout the country. There is no other training like it in the world! It is not an awareness program! It is advanced training, where attendees are provided answers to real life situations. Where unanswered suspicious things, seen and heard in the past, now become clear, as officers are given a legal approach to confirm or deny their suspicions. Commercial vehicles are specifically set up with mock explosives concealed in various methods within the commodity and vehicle itself, just as the officers would encounter them in the field!
Major criminals are most vulnerable while in transit.
Since these criminals do pose a serious threat to the American public, there is an immediate need to develop a domestic homeland defense system in order to prevent another catastrophe from happening.
All kinds of security measures are being instituted or discussed in order to prevent another tragedy. The most logical and economical solution to this homeland defense system is already in place throughout the country! Law enforcement has the obligation to protect the public…and there are currently thousands of officers who have taken an oath to protect the American people.
No single group of officers has a better opportunity to intercept and stop a major catastrophe from happening than Road Officers. Currently…only 10% of law enforcement activity is focused towards commercial vehicles, due to lack of training! Both narcotics and explosive detection dogs are least effective around a commercial vehicle.
The words drugs and explosives are synonymous to the road officer, simply because each can be concealed and transported in vehicles, in exactly the same manner. Drugs, explosives, and terrorist activity rely on one another for existence, as funds from major drug sales are directly supporting terrorist cells throughout the world.
Being that smugglers are also aware that they are most vulnerable during transit, their goal is to blend in with the innocent motoring public or legitimate commercial vehicle carrier in order that they will not be discovered by security and law enforcement personnel. They will go to great lengths to conceal contraband inside legitimate loads of commodity or the vehicle itself, in order to avoid detection by the untrained eye of law enforcement or security officer, thereby delivering their illegal contraband to its final destination.
In October of 2003, a young Road Officer near Amarillo, Texas, stopped a speeding motorist. During his enforcement contact with the driver, the officer became suspicious that the driver was involved in some type of criminal activity. A search of the vehicle was conducted, with the trooper locating an illegal AK-47 automatic weapon. Not real significant…unless you consider that the weapon had been smuggled from Iraq within the last 30 days…During a heightened security period…On a commercial airliner…Through American Customs…and finally stopped on an American highway.
Commercial Vehicle Weapons of Mass Destruction Interdiction Training
After the September 11, 2001 incident involving the attack by terrorists, it is obvious that this type of threat will continue to exist and become a way of life for the American people. The United States Federal Government has issued strong warnings that terrorist cells are operating within the United States. The United States Department of Transportation has predicted that “More domestic terrorist attacks within the United States may be imminent” and that “the probability of CMV’s (commercial motor vehicles) trucks being utilized as delivery platforms of a bomb or chem. /bio weapon is high”! That the probability of anti-American organizations operating within the United States and Canada is also very high. That the possibility of terrorists acquiring commercial vehicles for destruction purposes is not only a threat, but a high probability, given the payload and size of the vehicle.
Commercial motor vehicles are part of our everyday life and are allowed in major metropolitan areas, seaports, military bases, and airports, with minimal untrained scrutiny.
“While materials to produce explosives need not come from foreign countries, states bordering foreign countries and open waterways are most vulnerable and should take extra precautions.
Quality Training is the key to Prevention!
