07.17.05
story about Texas school bus drivers training for terrorism
School bus drivers train for terrorism
– reported by the Dallas Morning News
Excerpts:
She’s among more than 2,000 drivers and managers across Texas who have gone through a new terrorism training effort. Officials call it a pre-emptive move to protect one of the most vulnerable of potential targets: school buses.
[snip]
Half of those trained through the program so far are in Houston. But the effort is coming to Dallas County this fall. Over the next two years, the program, called School Bus Watch, will include 44,000 Texas school bus drivers, said Mike Martin, executive director of the National Association for Pupil Transportation.
This story was found thanks to blogHOUSTON. They even point to other news stories about this topic, including HISD Bus Drivers Trained To Watch For Terrorism, from Click2Houston.com, which ran last year.
Highlights from that story:
- Keep all vehicle doors, hatches and compartments locked when the bus is unattended.
- Maintain a constant awareness of people and surroundings.
- Watch for people in restricted areas or who appear to be conducting surveillance.
- Spot and report people who abandon an item and then leave the area quickly.
- Report suspicious vehicles, such as those moving erratically or appearing to follow the school bus.
- Look for abandoned items that may be suspicious or dangerous, such as canisters, tanks and metal boxes, and anything that appears to be emitting a mist, gas, vapor or odor, or is connected to wires, timers, tanks or bottles.
In view of the recent London events, it’s nice to know that proactive training is going on locally.
