RALEIGH, N.C. - Instructors from the Regional Counterdrug Training Academy (RCTA) partnered with the North Carolina National Guard Counterdrug Taskforce to host a commercial vehicle interdiction class at the Claude T. Bowers building here, Sept. 22-24, 2015.
"It's our support (NCNG) to local law enforcement for the state of North Carolina to assist in drug interdiction efforts," said Lt. Col. Bryan Hill, North Carolina National Guard Counterdrug Taskforce Coordinator. "It's our link to our law enforcement community and what we can do to help them do their job. Municipal police departments in Burlington, Alamance, Greensboro, High Point....all of those agencies need additional training in what right looks like in the commercial vehicle industry."
The class is designed to train officers with different fields of law enforcement on how to identify criminal activity in the trucking industry by using indicators and a basic knowledge to help apprehend criminals.
"It means the world to me because I have been to training before and the whole purpose for me starting this training was because a lot of the training that we had was a little outdated and I felt like the wrong message was getting sent to some of these officers on what may be indicative of criminal activity," said Ray Herndon, RCTA Instructor and Diamondback training owner.
Students receive a classroom portion of knowledge to help them better understand the operations in the trucking industry allowing officers to expose criminal enterprises that may be hiding within these organizations. Instructors provide a general understanding of a number of subjects to include but not limited to: Rapid Assessment of Commercial Motor Vehicles (CMV), Interviewing CMV drivers, and systematic search techniques.
"What we seek to do is bring these officers in and give them a basic working knowledge of how the transportation industry works," said Herndon. "How freight is moved, how it is handled, how it is loaded in these trailers and trucks, what is expected from the industry as far as the drivers, how drivers are recruited and trained."
Instructors use training aids to assist with the visual hands-on portion of the class. Real life vehicles that have been seized by law enforcement in the past serve as the greatest aids allowing officers to witness the elaboration and engineering of criminals smuggling and trafficking contraband.
"The material that were teaching is based on real life seizures that we have made over our careers," said Herndon, "Bringing that to the table, for a law enforcement officer that has no trucking experience really becomes priceless to them."
Diamondback training is owned by Herndon and is contracted by RCTA as instructor bringing a dual advantage of being in the trucking industry for 29 years and also being a retired North Carolina law enforcement officer for 25 years. This dual status helps give officers a picture of both sides of the industries to better hone in on criminal activities.
"It makes me happy to be able to contribute from an industry standpoint as well as a law enforcement standpoint," said Herndon.
The Gulf States Counterdrug Initiative (GSCI) sponsored the concept of the RCTA which developed in the early 90s to identify resources, services, and support that can be legitimately provided by DOD components and agencies to support counterdrug activities along the U.S. southern coastal region. This initiative spawned the birthplace of the RCTA which is now headquartered at the Naval Air Station in Meridian, Mississippi and is partnered with the Mississippi National Guard to supports the southeast region for counterdrug programs.
"We receive funding from the National Guard Bureau, we use that funding to hire the best instructors in the country to teach on different counterdrug topics," said U.S. Army Capt. Carl Smith, RCTA special projects officer.
Social Sharing