After the first two years of a three-year program, 18,100 truckers have completed training in a federally funded trucking security program known as First Observer.

In August 2008, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security awarded a $15.5 million grant to HMS Co. of Washington, D.C., to administer an anti-terrorism and security awareness program for highway professionals.

The program’s First Observer component is to recruit and train industry volunteers to report suspicious activities that might be criminal or linked to terrorism to authorities. It has partnered with the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association and the Teamsters union.

Total Security Services International, a professional security company and Patton Boggs, a law firm, both headquartered in the Washington, D.C., area, also are partners.

First Observer’s training modules are also targeted to workers in law enforcement, cargo and supply chain, infrastructure, hazmat, highway, ports and truck rental and leasing.

The program is funded through the Federal Emergency Management Agency and administered through the Transportation Security Administration; both are part of Homeland Security, said Dwayne Baird, a TSA spokesman.