Part of carrying the type of freight we haul subjects us to being searched, our truck is often searched daily and sometimes more than once a day. Some of the guards performing the search just stand on the step and look and others will get inside and move a few items inside the cupboards. Either way this has never been a problem and we know up front this is one of the requirements before hauling certain loads.
We have all heard the stories of the police looking for drugs, guns, or extra people in the truck and totally destroying the vehicle. I am not talking about these types of searches. The type of search I am talking about does not destroy. We have never had anyone disrespect our personal items as they look for whatever it is they are looking for.
Yes, they keep their shoes on when getting into the sleeper. Depending on the person some of their comments can be funny when they come back out. Usually we hear “this is a really nice truck”, “that is a really clean truck” or today “I need to give up my job and start trucking”. One guard got very upset as he could not figure out how to open the cupboard doors and once I showed him nothing was locked he calmed down. One odd request was from a guard standing on the ground who asked us out of the blue to open the glove box and I can only imagine what he thought might be in there. The glove box is used as a desk so we store paper and pencils in there and that is about as exciting as it gets.
The search the other day was more thorough than most. First, we had to take out all of our electronics and that took a while and we still missed a blue tooth head set and our two GPS’s. After we took everything inside the office to be locked up and then we proceeded to the second search of the day. These marines wanted every compartment inside and outside of truck opened, all drawers, cupboards, skirts lifted, tool boxes opened, and hood opened. While the truck was being searched, we had our backs to the truck with a marine with a very BIG gun in front of us chatting. In a short time, the marine inside the truck came out carrying our album of DVD’s that he proceeded to add to items already locked up. Once everything was shut back up the next step was to stay close to our escort and the truck was backed into the dock and then loaded.
When we stop, and think about it we are often subjected to searches or scans of our trucks. When we go through the border patrol they could search us or they can send the whole truck through a scan. Some states are going to a high-speed scan as we go by a scale to make sure everything is in working order. Dogs are used to smell our trucks looking for contraband as we slowly drive by. These scans are becoming more common as the scales are starting to use this technology.
So it is what it is and we have no stress or concerns as we open our doors, step outside of our truck, and let others inside to peek around.