THACKERVILLE, OK - As summer approaches more people will be getting in their cars to travel including criminals transporting illegal materials across state lines. Several local law enforcement agencies attended special training this week, and as Dara Downs reports, they're learning how to spot and stop criminal activity from moving through our communities.

Over 100 law enforcement officers are attending the Desert Snow training program in Thackerville this week, designed to teach them how criminals transport illegal materials using vehicles.

"The goal of the training is to have these officers learn to recognize the indicators of criminal activity which are things that are consistent with individuals involved in criminal activity and which are not consistent with the average innocent motoring public," says Dave Frye with Desert Snow Law Enforcement.

The four-day training teaches officers the newest and most creative places criminals can hide contraband, from a fuel tank....to a tire...to a concealed compartment inside of a car bumper.

Carter County Sheriff's Deputy Shannon Davis says with a major interstate and two well traveled highways running through the county this information will help local departments keep more drugs off the streets.

"We'll be taking large amounts of drugs off of the roadways, which protects our kids, which there's no better way than to say we are protecting our kids, and we'll be making a small impact with our local dopers," Davis says.

Director of Training David Frye says recent events like the attempted Times Square bombing last week make specialized training like this increasingly important for law enforcement.

"It is important not just from the perspective of removing major drug smugglers or currency smugglers or weapons smugglers, but we do also have those terrorist threats here in the United States, and we could be exposed to other incidents like that at any time," Frye says.

Love County Undersheriff Jason Bone was instrumental in bring the Desert Snow program to Southeastern Oklahoma. Bone says he's happy to give more local agencies access to the unique training.

"Some guys have been waiting three years for this class and just hadn't been able to afford it, so getting it here really helped them out," says Bone.

The training session wraps up Thursday in Thackerville.