Border security tightened -- Longer lines, armed patrols on ferries after recent U.S. strikes

In the wake of recent American strikes on Afganistan, security at all ports of entry and departure, as well as along freeways and waterways, has been ratcheted up to the highest levels.

There is a noticeable increase in law enforcement officials and security checks on ferries, at customs and along the border of the Northern United States.

On the Washington State Ferries, for instance, there are armed guards doing random patrols of routes, including the Anacortes to Friday Harbor run. The United States Border Patrol has stepped up its vigilance of the area between ports of entry, and U.S. Customs is on a Level One alert -- the highest level possible.

According to Susan Harris, spokesperson for the WSF, “We are getting more support from the Washington State Patrol and U.S. Coast Guard, and we have more patrols on our vessels, some with bomb dogs,” Harris said. “The patrols and the crews are doing extensive cabin walk-throughs, and we’re asking people not to leave their belongings unattended or they will be confiscated.”

Since no hazardous materials are allowed on board any vessels other than special charters, the ferry system has not had to take special precautions with commercial vehicles carrying petroleum or other flammable or hazardous materials.

The ferry system has never been on such intense alert, Harris added, and it is in the process of setting up new policies and procedures to accommodate the change in security.

Local customs director Dennis Hazelton, who said he had “real strong instructions not to give out any information, referred media to Cherise Miles, spokeswoman for the Northwest, Great Plains Customs Management Center. Miles said there were more inspectors at every port of entry, including Friday Harbor.

“The Level One Alert requires increased examinations of vehicles that are more thorough,” she explained. That means vehicles, both passenger and commercial, are being inspected more closely, by officers. After off-loading the Sidney run in Anacortes, for example, the inspectors typically stop every vehicle, and question the driver and passengers. If their point of departure was Sidney, the drivers are questioned more closely about their destination and activities. The inspectors regularly check the back seats, open the trunks of these vehicles and examine their undercarriages with an angled mirror.

All this takes time, and the wait at border crossings and ferry terminals has increased accordingly. (See box.)

At the borders, officers have been working overtime to maintain round-the-clock surveillance. “We’ve been working 24/7 since Sept. 11,” said John Bates of the U.S. Border Patrol for the Blaine District. “We’ve been joined by other agencies, and are working a lot of overtime.” Bates said the border patrol is coordinating its activities with both state and local law enforcement and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

“It hasn’t changed our mission, we’re doing everything we did before,” he said, “but we’re doing it more intensely.”

Because of the heightened state of alert, unattended vehicles are no longer allowed on ferries going east or west, said WSF’s Harris. That change has left an unusual casualty, the practice of the island’s hearse being driven onto a ferry bound for Anacortes, and left unescorted until the body was transferred to a hearse owned by an Anacortes funeral home.

Rick Galer, a county employee who transported bodies to the ferry, said previously, the hearse was the first car on board the vessel, and was parked directly under the pilot house where the captain could see it at all times. The vehicle was left unlocked and, after the ferry docked, was driven off first and returned once the body was transferred to the mainland hearse.

Now, said Galer, the change in policy means his employer, Evans Funeral Home, must now provide a driver to transport bodies off the island. “They don’t pay me enough to stay on the ferry for that length of time,” he said, “so they have to pull someone from their own staff to do it.”

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