Many RVers and campers cut costs or buy economically. Others who do so are outdoorsmen and women who simply enjoy hunting, fishing, hiking, and survivalist activities. If you are among those of us who buy from surplus stores for any of these reasons, you’ll want to keep some things in mind.
- Do you pay in cash?
- Do you buy “meals ready to eat”?
- Have you bought a night flashlight?
- Or a weatherproof ammunition container?
- Or matches in waterproof containers?
Guess what! You may find yourself listed on the FBI and Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) “suspicious” lists.
Why? Because the FBI and BJA just distributed notices to surplus supply stores in Colorado titled, “Communities Against Terrorism: Potential Indicators of Terrorist Activities Related to Military Surplus Stores.”
Why We Might be Considered Suspicious
The bulletin lists under the heading, “What Should I Consider Suspicious” several items that terrorists might be purchasing. These are the same items that RVers and other outdoors enthusiasts might purchase at a military surplus store to save money or to get a better product.
Similar versions distributed to gun shops titled, “Communities Against Terrorism: Potential Indicators of Terrorist Activities Related to Gun Shops and Gun Ranges,” and to hotels and motels titled, “Communities Against Terrorism: Potential Indicators of Terrorist Activities Related to Hotels and Motels” also ask clerks to report suspicious activity. Will this include RV parks and campgrounds, too?
While some items on the list would be suspicious under any circumstances (i.e., "… uses credit card[s] in different name[s]"), others are bothersome, such as "paying in cash." There are too many reasons why harmless people might want to pay in cash.
- RVers travel around. Our checks will not be accepted everywhere.
- Some purchases may not warrant using a credit card, and more so if the new banking laws result in higher costs of using charge cards.
- We may have no choice but to use cash.
- Full-timers on limited incomes may use cash to stay within a budget, avoiding credit and interest.
Personally, we use cash for a few reasons. It means:
- Less bookkeeping (easier to balance the checkbook)
- Fewer receipts showing credit card information (reducing risk of identity theft)
- When the cash is gone, the buying stops
Untrained Eyes
Several items on this watch list sound reasonable at first glance, but lacking a clear definition, they're subject to a clerk’s subjective opinion of what fits that description. While the bulletin also contains a disclaimer that not everyone is suspect just because their behavior falls into the behaviors listed, or whose purchases include the items listed they recommend that clerks:
- Keep records of purchases
- Require valid ID from all new customers
- Watch behaviors
- Make notes of customer actions and statements that seem out of place
- Notify law enforcement of anything that seems suspicious
And what seems suspicious to an untrained clerk could be something as innocent as stocking up on meals ready to eat for emergencies, or paying in cash.
There doesn’t appear to be any training to help these clerks discern between a terrorist making bulk purchases and a youth group leader making bulk purchases for a two-week group outing. Very likely, the terrorist would pose as just such a group leader if questioned.
Catch-22
The irony is that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) website, Ready.gov, referenced in previous disaster preparedness articles, gives detailed instructions for disaster preparedness, while the FBI tags people who prepare for emergencies as “preppers,” and considers them suspicious.
Paradoxically, the DHS advises people to stock up on some of the same items the FBI and BJA associate with suspicious persons. The Ready.gov site recommends a three-day supply of nonperishable food for each person, flashlights, matches in waterproof containers and cash as essential components of your emergency preparedness kit. Other government emergency preparedness sites and Red Cross sites recommend stocking up to seven days worth of meals, water and supplies.
Adaptability vs. Malicious Intent
Two of the suspicious behaviors listed are, “Demonstrate interest in uses that do not seem consistent with the intended use of the item being purchased,” and “Possess little knowledge of the intended purchase items.”
How many times do we (especially women) adapt an item for an unintended purpose? Frankly, I’m clueless about most things in an army surplus store. To me, a weatherproof ammo box could be a better size, shape or price for protecting legal documents or old photos than new ones designed for those purposes.
If I were purchasing it, I wouldn’t think “Oh, this is an ammo box.” Rather, I’d think something like, “This is perfect to keep bugs (or moisture) out and fits in the storage locker (or closet),” or “This will keep my crackers crisp.”
Rookie RVers, campers or hunters commonly indicate that they don’t know much about what they’re buying. And the growing number of new RVers living on limited incomes means RVers are likely surplus store shoppers.
We adapt to the RV lifestyle, and may purchase suspicious items from surplus stores because they’re cheaper than camping and sporting goods stores. On that note, how long before sporting goods and camping supply stores have to report who buys what?
How to Avoid Looking Suspicious
I personally think we should step up our purchases of these items and raise awareness that RVers are growing in numbers and need them in greater quantities than in past years.
Since the surplus store clerks are watching for suspicious comments, make it known that we’re following the DHS recommendation to maintain fresh and well-stocked emergency preparedness kits.
Talk about the RV lifestyle, the kinds of weather emergencies we run into, the need to store compact food supplies because of limited space, and other adaptations specific to RVers.
In other words, create a profile of both new and seasoned RVers that clerks will recognize as making ordinary, albeit alternate uses of military surplus. Help them differentiate between how RVers may adapt military items for daily use from uses that might warrant suspicion.