Washington State Truck Drivers to Undergo Background Checks, Fingerprinting

The 40,000 Washington truck drivers who are licensed to haul explosives, gasoline and poisonous chemicals soon must be fingerprinted and undergo background checks to make sure they aren't criminals or terrorists.

"Our goal is to secure every mode of transportation," said Darrin Kayser, spokesman for the Transportation Security Administration in Washington, D.C. "Just as we do background checks on airport workers, pilots, our screeners, we also want those individuals who have access to potentially threatening cargos to have those background checks."

The TSA has done a preliminary security check on the 2.7 million drivers nationwide who are licensed to carry hazardous materials, including those in Washington state. That check matched drivers' names against the Homeland Security Department terrorist watch list using databases by the FBI, CIA and Interpol. It turned up only one person of interest, and he was deported, Kayser said.

Fingerprinting will enable the FBI to do a more thorough check.

The TSA is in the process of hiring a company to set up shop in Washington and other states to collect fingerprints and forward them to the FBI. Agency officials hope to award the contract by the end of the year.

The program would begin Jan. 31.

Jetliner attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon demonstrated how common vehicles can be transformed into weapons of mass destruction. When Congress passed the USA Patriot Act a few months after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, it required the background checks for truck drivers whose cargo could be used to kill hundreds or thousands, as a 12,000-gallon gasoline tanker could in the wrong hands.

The fingerprinting requirement was supposed to go into effect in July, but had to be postponed. Like many states, Washington wasn't prepared. Fingerprinting and background checks are common for many occupations in Washington. Teachers, social workers and others who come in frequent contact with children or vulnerable adults must undergo checks on their criminal history, and their prints are submitted to the Washington State Patrol.

The State Patrol could handle the additional work, but it has only one location where digital fingerprinting is done, said Mike Bieker, project coordinator for the state Department of Licensing's commercial driver division.

"The biggest problem would be the hardship on drivers," he said. "There's only one State Patrol office that has live-scan digital fingerprinting, and that's in Olympia. But we have truck drivers throughout the state."

Licensing officials also considered sending truck drivers to local police departments, but many departments use the manual ink roll method that has an unacceptable error rate, according to Bieker.

Digital fingerprint scanners are more reliable, but those machines are mostly used in jail booking areas, "and that's not a place we could send drivers," he said.

Consequently, the Licensing Department probably will use whatever company federal officials hire, he said. Not all commercial drivers must be fingerprinted, only those who want a hazardous materials endorsement.

"The drivers are supportive," said Jim Tutton, vice president of the Washington Trucking Association. "They understand the need for it."

However, drivers probably will have to shoulder the cost of the background checks themselves. TSA estimates the fee will be about $100.

"It's being left to the individual drivers," said Bill Kidd, director of external affairs for BP, which has 28 drivers in Seattle and 15 in Portland who deliver gasoline to BP service stations in the Northwest. "We're just encouraging them to get in before their commercial license expires. We don't want them to wait till the last minute.

"It doesn't seem to be raising much of a level of consternation with our people," he added.

Tammie Cole, controller for Reinhard Petroleum in Pacific, said she doesn't expect the federal checks to turn up much -- at least, not for her drivers.

"We actually do run a background check that goes back about 10 years," Cole said of the 65 drivers that work for Reinhard. "It gives us their criminal background and their driving record."

Reinhard's drivers haul gasoline and diesel fuel to such clients as Union 76 and Safeway. Other trucking companies also use companies to check on their drivers.

Bieker said commercial driver's licenses and the hazardous materials endorsements are good for five years, so it will take five years to conduct the checks on all drivers as they renew their licenses.

In April, state licensing officials sent the list of 40,000 drivers' names to TSA, but had only one inquiry about a driver's address.

"They did contact us on one driver, but they have not told us we have any folks who are a threat in their eyes," said Gibb Kingsley, manager of Washington's Commercial Driver License Division.

If the TSA does find a disqualifying crime, the agency will tell state licensing officials to revoke the driver's hazardous material endorsement. There will be an appeal process for instances of mistaken identity or incorrect criminal history records.