Ferry security drill?
Mock attack offers practice to Jefferson County first responders — drill teaches ‘a lot of lessons’
“Once we had neutralized the shooter, we had to search all areas of the boat to make sure there wasn’t anymore danger,” he said.
Newspeople, please help us to make sense of mixed messages in the War on Terror. Please be in the habit of asking questions. Too often- what we see are the posting of press releases from whatever agencies are involved in local events and incidents.
Many of us have made dozens of round-trip ferry crossings over the years. It is very common to see no security at either terminal. The Washington State Patrol uses dogs to check vehicles at some ferry terminals on some days. Walk-on passengers are not checked at any terminal- at any time.
The routes I have traveled most are Edmonds/Kingston & Port Townsend/Keystone. (Coupeville/Penn Cove is on the eastern shore of Whidbey Island- no ferry link to Port Townsend exists there.)
Washington State Ferries encourages people to speak up if they see something that doesn’t look right:
Questions to ask:
If the Oklahoma City bomber rolls onto the ferry- how does a SWAT team help out an hour later?
What is the point in having gunboats escorting ferries if terrorists are free to put their boat on a trailer and drive it onto the ferry?
June 2006-
“Ferry incident exposes security weaknesses”
Man drives through Bainbridge toll booths without paying and locks himself in his car on the ferry Tacoma.
“State Patrol troopers and their bomb-sniffing dogs, who might also have made an arrest, didn’t happen to be at the Bainbridge dock.”
“We’d like the patrol to be everywhere, all the time, but they don’t have the staff or the money,” said ferry spokeswoman Susan Harris-Huether. “If they’d have been (at Bainbridge), none of this would have happened.”
More info:
Ferry sails for Seattle with drunk man aboard-
Investigation of ferry dock shutdown rules captain acted correctly
Another source:
Post-911 security protocols did not prevent unauthorized motorist from driving his vehicle onto the ferry:
Bomb scare has officials pointing fingers
“Gilliland did, though, cut ahead in the vehicle loading lanes, hopping from lane five to lane one in a hurried attempt to load onto the ferry, officials said.”
”The folks on the vessel gestured for him to stop, but he swerved like he was going to run them over, Harris-Huether said.”
“Ferry deckhands shoved wooden wedges under the wheels of Gillilands SUV to prevent him from moving and asked him to step out of the vehicle. Gilliland refused, locking his doors, revving his engine and rolling up his windows.”
Sept. 2007-
Harpist on Port Townsend-Keystone ferry silenced after 17 years
“Washington State Ferries officials had received two complaints from passengers, saying that they had to abide by security measures while Michael did not.”
Security measures?
Washington State ferry passengers are advised via PA system to not leave backpacks or packages unattended during ferry crossings.
Meanwhile- on the car deck- cars, trucks, vans, commercial vehicles, etc. are left unattended during ferry crossings.
Washington State Ferries propaganda video-
Oct. 2014-
Non-terrorist demonstrates lack of security protocols at typical Washington State ferries terminal-
Vehicle blows by ticket booth, ignoring personnel assigned to proper staging of vehicles:
Video: Man dies after SUV crashes through gate at Southworth ferry dock, sinks in Sound
Video from another source:
Man dies after car drives off ferry dock
Zero questions or reporting from newspeople about how post-911 security protocols kept the man safe.
More here:
Washington State ferries post-911 security protocols update:
State ferries security previously blogged about here:
If You See Something, Say Something?
Discuss on facebook here:
or here:
Our free and independent press has stopped asking questions.
Photo- Keystone ferry inbound