CHEYENNE, WYOMING — The Laramie County Sheriff’s Office has caught and turned over nearly 120 commercial truck drivers to federal authorities in the five months since launching its “Truck Around and Find Out” enforcement program, including 46 during its latest three-day operation last week.
The latest operation, titled Truck Around and Find Out: Spring Storm, was conducted in cooperation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement and resulted in at least 200 total stops targeting both unsafe commercial drivers and passenger vehicle drivers. The 46 illegal drivers caught last week bring the program’s running total to nearly 120 since November, following 40 in the first operation titled Operation Safe Haul and 32 in a late February effort.
Notable Stops From the Latest Operation
Sheriff Brian Kozak highlighted one particularly striking stop from last week. “One significant stop was a driver who had been revoked out of Colorado 13 different times. He was still driving, and an illegal immigrant — and his company was also revoked,” Kozak said.
In another case, deputies responded to a local business that reported an unwanted semi-trailer parked across five spaces directly in front of a no-truck-parking sign. The driver was found sleeping inside. “He was sleeping, and also not authorized to drive a commercial truck and illegal. He ended up going to our jail,” Kozak said.
The Program’s Philosophy
Kozak said the program is not exclusively focused on immigration enforcement or commercial drivers. “We like to say anyone who’s driving unsafe around trucks or truck drivers who are unsafe. We’re looking out for the legal truck drivers who are doing it right. We don’t want to just target truck drivers, we want to target unsafe drivers,” he said.
A Growing Reputation
The program has drawn national attention and overwhelmingly positive feedback, Kozak said. Legal truck drivers passing through ports of entry have offered nothing but compliments. The enforcement effort has given Laramie County a reputation among unsafe and illegal drivers as a place to avoid.
“We do have that reputation. We’ve heard feedback from some of the truck drivers we did arrest saying they knew they were taking a risk coming through Laramie County,” Kozak said. He added that Colorado law enforcement has reported that Highway 287 between Laramie and Colorado is being used by some drivers to avoid I-25 and Highway 85, which run through his jurisdiction.
Legitimate trucking companies have also expressed support. “We hear feedback from the trucking companies who are doing it the right way, because it increases their business because the illegal companies can’t operate,” Kozak said.
Towing companies have also benefited. When a driver is taken off the road, the company is called to retrieve the truck. If the company cannot or will not respond, or if the driver is the owner, the truck is towed and impounded. The owner must pay impound fees before reclaiming it. “That’s a business that’s very happy with what we’re doing — the towing companies,” Kozak said.
All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
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