TN To Fight Terrorism Statewide.....

dieseldiva · Oct 20, 2011

Because we know that ALL terrorists drive trucks or buses.....

Tuesday Tennessee was first to deploy VIPR simultaneously at five weigh stations and two bus stations across the state.

Don't take me wrong, I'm all for fighting terrorism, I just find it interesting that their starting point is trucks and buses....oh wait, there have been a lot of incidences involving those vehicles.

FULL STORY

greg334 · Oct 20, 2011

So Tennessee is taking the place of the feds? Maybe they need to focus on the growing population of invaders in the eastern part of their state and the crime that rivals Detroit in Memphis first?

What happens when a new president and maybe a new congress cuts funding for these programs?

Has the TSA done anything to actually stop a terror plot?

scottm4211 · Oct 20, 2011

Will they be profiling those with all their teeth

moose · Oct 20, 2011

Good find !
with a 68 Mil. $ a year budget,it was always a matter of time, till the 1 observer program will come back to bite us all in the butt.
i strongly recommend anyone on here that ever went to that training to stop support this kind of programs.
the TST will need more then just a lame excuse to get into MY sleeper !, weigh station or not.

blizzard2014 · Oct 20, 2011

greg334 said:
So Tennessee is taking the place of the feds? Maybe they need to focus on the growing population of invaders in the eastern part of their state and the crime that rivals Detroit in Memphis first?

What happens when a new president and maybe a new congress cuts funding for these programs?

Has the TSA done anything to actually stop a terror plot?

Agreed, Greg. There are hispanic gangs running the streets in Nashville these days. It's amazing how our government always targets the wrong people when they are supposedly going after terrorists. We have people in this country who do not even belong here running the streets with guns and they are allowed to continue on like there is no tomorrow. But if an American citizen spits on the concreet, they are hauled away to jail and locked up. This needs to change! Attention Government: Please go after the real terrorists, hard working people are not terrorists!

dieseldiva · Oct 20, 2011

greg334 said:
Has the TSA done anything to actually stop a terror plot?

You bring a good question and one I hadn't given any thought....I honestly can't remember hearing that they've ever stopped one. Anyone else????

dieseldiva · Oct 20, 2011

moose said:
Good find !
with a 68 Mil. $ a year budget,it was always a matter of time, till the 1 observer program will come back to bite us all in the butt.
i strongly recommend anyone on here that ever went to that training to stop support this kind of programs.
the TST will need more then just a lame excuse to get into MY sleeper !, weigh station or not.

Another good question arises......just how much authority will they have as far as going into sleepers....what about body searches like they do in the air ports?????

dieseldiva · Oct 20, 2011

blizzard said:
Agreed, Greg. There are hispanic gangs running the streets in Nashville these days. It's amazing how our government always targets the wrong people when they are supposedly going after terrorists. We have people in this country who do not even belong here running the streets with guns and they are allowed to continue on like there is no tomorrow. But if an American citizen spits on the concreet, they are hauled away to jail and locked up. This needs to change! Attention Government: Please go after the real terrorists, hard working people are not terrorists!

As long as we have people running the show that put more emphasis on political correctness than they do safety.....it will sadly be this way.

dieseldiva · Oct 20, 2011

Someone needs to teach me how to do multiple quotes!

The hubs and I were talking and wondering how long before you're stopped in every state and checked just as you are now north of Laredo and other places throughout the south??

Might as well get rid of that prepass if this is going to become the norm.

moose · Oct 20, 2011

A copy of my Email to OOIDA :

Good day OOIDA.

Link to story here :

Tennessee Becomes First State To Fight Terrorism Statewide - NewsChannel5.com | Nashville News, Weather & Sports

OOIDA needs to take a stand on this.
the 1st Observer program MUST stay a good volunteery act taken by choice .
the TSA now forcing truckers to take an active part in this program.
at 68 Million $ a year, this program is all about recruit new truckers, to justified it's needs.
how can we expect a trucker to say NO to a TSA officer at a Weigh station.?
this is flat out wrong.

OOIDA needs to say out loud, that this kind of programs will not be mandated,
we need to say so, or this program will went the way other such bad programs like the TAT and HWY watch went.
OOIDA cannot take active part in increasing regulatory over it's own members.

thanks,
...

cheri1122 · Oct 20, 2011

Anyone else wondering if the acronym VIPR wasn't the 'seal of approval' [if not the primary impetus] to create this program that does nothing but "encourage drivers to become 1st observers"? And what did/does it cost, to send the VIPR guys out recruiting?
And most important, [as Moose mentioned], what O/O or driver feels 100% certain that a refusal won't land him on a TSA list somewhere? Isn't that bordering on coercive?

cheri1122 · Oct 20, 2011

dieseldiva said:
Because we know that ALL terrorists drive trucks or buses.....

And that guys just can't resist an acronym that sounds as fiercely macho as VIPR, even if all they do is recruit people to call 911 if they see anything 'suspicious'. In a truckstop.

Don't take me wrong, I'm all for fighting terrorism, I just find it interesting that their starting point is trucks and buses....oh wait, there have been a lot of incidences involving those vehicles.

FULL STORY

Turtle · Oct 20, 2011

The TSA may very well have thwarted several terrorist plots, simply by them not taking place due to the security. An absence of known thwarted plots is not evidence that the TSA is useless. Having said that, this deal in TN is just another example of how we are rapidly approaching a Police State.

dieseldiva · Oct 20, 2011

cheri1122 said:
Anyone else wondering if the acronym VIPR wasn't the 'seal of approval' [if not the primary impetus] to create this program that does nothing but "encourage drivers to become 1st observers"? And what did/does it cost, to send the VIPR guys out recruiting?
And most important, [as Moose mentioned], what O/O or driver feels 100% certain that a refusal won't land him on a TSA list somewhere? Isn't that bordering on coercive?

True all of that and I'll add this.....I don't know a lot of drivers but I'd dare a guess that most would notice and make that call on their own, without being asked.

moose · Oct 20, 2011

I'm on the no fly list.
that's why i drive a glider kit...

there's another problem.
the DoT officer dose not allow to search a truck
(without a cause - that can stands in court)
(they are allow to inspect the interior of a truck, it's their job to do so.)
but.
now that they have a TSA officer 'on location', with what i presume, the authority to conduct a search. (a VERY questionable presumption ! )
well what if they find an item that is not inline with DoT regulation ?
dose the TAS agent going to turn the trucker in to the DoT officer ?

i can tell you one thing for sure. if they get their bomb sniffing dogs, and pride sniffing officers near MY rig at a scale house, they are going to get their *** kicked in 3 different languages ! 2 of them a middleeastern ones, and one to be commonly used by terrorists, all of them in a very heavy accent, which will defiantly land me on all bunch of TSA lists...

skyraider · Oct 20, 2011

Turtle said:
The TSA may very well have thwarted several terrorist plots, simply by them not taking place due to the security. An absence of known thwarted plots is not evidence that the TSA is useless. Having said that, this deal in TN is just another example of how we are rapidly approaching a Police State.

Checkpoints: Your papers please, hmmm, been watch'n to many spy movies

dieseldiva · Oct 20, 2011

skyraider said:
Checkpoints: Your papers please, hmmm, been watch'n to many spy movies

That trips another thought......you can pull me in a scale house or checkpoint, ask me for just about any paper that's made except the release for my first born, go all over my truck, inside and out.........but if a person looks hispanic and is stopped for a traffic violation or something worse, you cannot ask for his proof of citizenship. I know, I know.....another argument for another day!!

cheri1122 · Oct 20, 2011

dieseldiva said:
That trips another thought......you can pull me in a scale house or checkpoint, ask me for just about any paper that's made except the release for my first born, go all over my truck, inside and out.........but if a person looks hispanic and is stopped for a traffic violation or something worse, you cannot ask for his proof of citizenship. I know, I know.....another argument for another day!!

Everything they ask for has a reason - except the 'long form' DOT physical - far as I can see, that's a blatant invasion of privacy.
Which is even more infuriating when they can't, as you say, ask for proof of citizenship from someone who appears questionable.
I hope anyone who experiences a VIPR encounter will write about it - I'd like to know just how they 'recruit', actually.