Hub911 - Emergency Services Information for all First Responders; Fire, EMS, LEO
LIKE us ->
  • Home
    • Free Medical Information Card
    • Contact Us
  • EMS
    • EMS Dept. Links
    • EMS Sponsors
    • EMS Classified Ads
    • EMS Events
    • EMS Forum
  • Fire & Rescue
    • Fire & Rescue Dept. Links
    • Fire & Rescue Sponsors
    • Fire & Rescue Classified Ads
    • Fire & Rescue Events
    • Fire & Rescue Forum
    • SOS Supply
  • Law Enforcement
    • Law Enforcement Dept. Links
    • Law Enforcement Sponsors
    • Law Enforcement Classified Ads
    • Law Enforcement Events
    • Law Enforcement Forums
  • Towing & Utilities
    • Tow Equip
    • Towing Company Links
    • Towing Company Sponsors
    • Towing Classified Ads
    • Towing Events
    • Towing & Utilities Forums
  • More
    • Dispatch
    • Explosives
    • HazMat
    • Lifeboat
    • Search & Rescue
    • U.S. Military >
      • Army
      • Navy
      • Air Force
      • Marines
      • Coast Guard
      • National Guard
      • Air National Guard
  • Forums
    • EMS Forums
    • Fire & Rescue Forums
    • Law Enforcement Forums
    • Towing & Utilities Forums
  • Info
    • Contact Us
    • Advertising >
      • Rate Page
      • Classified Ads
      • Links
      • Sponsorship
    • Resources
    • Disclaimer
    • State Listings
    • Site Map
  • Design
    • Website Design
    • SEO
    • Social Media Marketing
    • Hosting
    • Branding
    • Graphic Design
    • Printing
    • Signs and Banners
  • Blogs
    • Health Blog >
      • Mold Test Sale
    • Hub911 Blog
    • EMS Blog on Hub911
    • Fire Blog on Hub911
    • LEO Blog on Hub911
    • Towing Blog on Hub911 >
      • Positive Spin on Covid-19
      • COVID-19 and Isolationalism
    • PSA Blog
    • Hub911 Products Blog
    • Contests
    • Hub911 Recipies
  • Store
    • Service Animal Memorials
    • Contests
  • Print ID card
  • Parts Department Managment
  • New Page
  • New Page

Suspicious Vehicles and Current Events - by Nick Kemper

4/28/2012

0 Comments

 
Picture
I was at a Parent Meeting at my daughter's high school recently, and the instructor for the AP US History course was explaining his course, that it covered the time period between Columbus' discovery and 9/11.  A parent asked him why he didn't cover up to the present day, and he explained that, in the academic community, usually a couple of decades have to pass for history to "settle."  What he meant is that the "facts" sometimes aren't known or apparent until many years later.

Thinking about 9/11, I was reminded of the impact that event had on our industry.  The economic impact now seems like it was a rehearsal for the current recession.  The day of the attack, our local major metropolitan airport called the company I was managing and asked us to station a truck there 24 hours a day.  We were there for the next 3 months, while they put the job up for bid, and then one of our competitors under-bid us and got the contract.  The driver would sit at the split between arrivals and departures, and every 15 minutes he or she would cycle through both.  If one of the airport personnel had an unattended vehicle, we would take it to a holding lot.  We moved very few vehicles.  We were there to threaten, mostly, to keep people from leaving their vehicles unattended.  Drivers worked 4- or 8-hour shifts.  I worked a few shifts myself.  The 10 pm-2 am shift was very boring.  The most interesting thing I saw was a coyote run down the street into departures shortly after midnight one night.  Apparently he was taking the red-eye somewhere.

Another thing we did, along with most of the other towing companies in our municipality, was station trucks at certain times of the day near the major bridges in town, presumably to tow away any vehicles with bombs off the bridge before they blew up, if a terrorist was so inclined to attack the bridge, which apparently was a concern for awhile after 9/11.

I sometimes wondered what role we would play if there actually was a terrorist vehicle left unattended, or if a vehicle left unattended actually turned out to be a terrorist vehicle, perhaps with a bomb inside.  This is the tow truck driver's job, to transport vehicles with bombs inside?  Talk about pressure!  And where do you tow it to?  It made me think of a tow I had done several years before that, right after the Oklahoma City bombing.

I was driving swing shift, and I got off at midnight.  Around 11, I got a call to impound a vehicle from a no-parking zone downtown in the large city where I worked.  When I got there, it was the only vehicle on the street.  It was a VW Bus, circa 1975.  What was odd was that it was parked in the Police Vehicle Zone.  Who in the world would leave their VW Bus overnight in a Police Vehicle Zone?  The police had ticketed it, called in the tow, and left.  It was a weeknight, and the streets and sidewalks were deserted.  I hooked up to the vehicle and checked all the doors--locked.  I didn't want to dollie the vehicle, so I worked to unlock it.  The police contract gave us authorization to unlock vehicles we were impounding for them.  VW Buses can be tricky to unlock.  I tried the doors and wing windows and was walking around behind the vehicle to go to the other side, when I grabbed the rear flip-up door and it was open.

This VW Bus was the cleanest, most immaculate VW Bus I have ever seen.  I had to crawl through the rear door to open one of the main doors.  When I climbed in, there were no rear seats in the van.  I thought that was odd.  In fact, other than the driver and passenger seats, there was NOTHING in the van--it was empty and spotless--EXCEPT... there was a double-size briefcase sitting upright right in the middle of the van.

Hmmm....

It was at that point that I realized that this Police Vehicle Zone took up the whole block right in front of the rear entrance to the FEDERAL BUILDING.  Yes, I am not kidding you.  This was about 3 months after the Oklahoma City bombing.

What did I do?  I was a commission driver in the last 30 minutes of his shift.  I completed the tow.

When I got to the impound lot, I told the graveyard shift driver about it, and he called the police.  They came down with the bomb squad to check out it out, after I went home (I was off-duty at midnight, and I didn't see the point of waiting around to see if the briefcase would explode).  Turned out to be clean.  I never did find out why the owner parked it there, or what was in the briefcase, and my wife really didn't appreciate the fact that I continued on with the tow after I understood the similarities.  But I got my commission, and I finished my shift on-time.  That was the important thing.

Have a safe and profitable week.

Sincerely,
Nick Kemper
www.TowPartsNow.com


0 Comments

    Hub911.com

    Please tell us your story!

    Archives

    March 2020
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    February 2016
    December 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012

    Categories

    All
    2013
    911
    9/11
    Accident
    Amanda
    Anger In The Work Place
    Animals
    April Fools Day
    Auto Trans
    Bathroom
    Beer
    Being Chased By Car
    Briefcase
    Broken Wrecker
    Ca
    Cab Mess
    Cars
    Catch 20
    Catch 21
    Catch 22
    Changing Tire
    Chasing Car
    Claw
    Close Calls
    Clown Car Towing
    Commission
    Crash
    Datsun
    Dirty Shirt
    Dispatch
    Driving
    Drug Screen
    Drug Test
    Drunk Driving
    Eagle
    Emergency
    Emergency Disneyland
    Emergency Service Information
    Emergency Services
    Emergency Services Info
    Emergency Services Information
    Employee Drug Test
    Employees
    Employees Caring
    Employee Turnover
    Equipment
    Escape
    Fall Back
    Federal Building
    Finding Something Lost
    Fixing Your Truck
    Friends
    Frustration
    Funny Tow Story
    Gatecrasher
    Handle Angry Employees
    Harley
    Hate My Job
    Hib911.com
    Hiring Ems
    Hiring In The Towing Industry
    Hiring Nightmares
    Hiring Warm Bodies
    Hook And Book
    How To Motivate
    Http://www.essentialnow.com
    Http://www.hub911.com
    Hub911
    Hub 911
    Hub911.com
    Hub911.com
    Humor
    Impaired Driving
    Impound
    Impound Lot
    Info
    Information
    It's The Law
    Jobs Are Like Boats
    Kids
    Late
    Law
    Lazy Co-worker
    Lonely Road
    Lot
    Love Hate Relationship With Job
    Love My Job
    Luck
    Mad Customers
    Mad Man
    Management Difficult Employee
    Messy Truck
    Mi
    Motorcycle
    Municipal Contracts
    N
    Newsletter
    New Years Eve
    Nick Kemper
    Night
    Nissan
    Not Short
    Offended By Drug Test
    Oklahoma City Bombing
    Olds
    Painted Truck
    Paint Job
    Parking Violation
    Pets
    Police
    Police Tow
    Priceless
    Pride In Your Ride
    Professional Dress
    Respect Tow Truck Operators
    Restuarant Parking
    Road Party
    Rtto
    Runaway Car
    Sheriff
    Sherry Wood
    Shortcut
    Slow Down Move Over
    Spilling Pop
    Spring Forward
    Stolen
    Subaru
    Tactic To Cope With Anger
    The Hub
    Tickets
    Time Change
    Tire Friction
    Tires And Suspension
    Tow-agencies
    Tow Call
    Tow-company-managers
    Tow Crash
    Towing
    Towing And Equipment
    Towing Complaints
    Towing Mishap
    Towing Wrecker
    Towpartnow
    Tow Part Now
    Towpartsnow
    Tow Parts Now
    Towpartsnow.com
    TowPartsNow.com
    Tow Show
    Tow Truck
    Tow Truck Mess
    Train
    Trains
    Trick Or Treat
    Tricks Crossrails
    Trucks
    Uniform Compliance
    Vacation
    Vacationers
    Vehicle Owner
    Work
    Wreck
    Wrecker
    Wreckers

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.