A number of people responded that this was similar to successful programs
such as "Neighbourhood Watch".

The title for this post was taken from the CATO institutes comment in the
article itself. The "disturbing" comment was mine, and was based on remarks
such as this one in the article:

After the session in Little Rock, two newly initiated Highway Watch members
sat down for the catered barbecue lunch. The truckers, who haul hazardous
material across 48 states, explained how easy it is to spot "Islamics" on
the road: just look for their turbans. Quite a few of them are truck
drivers, says William Westfall of Van Buren, Ark. "I'll be honest. They know
they're not welcome at truck stops. There's still a lot of animosity toward
Islamics." Eddie Dean of Fort Smith, Ark., also has little doubt about his
ability to identify Muslims: "You can tell where they're from. You can hear
their accents. They're not real clean people."


We have Neighbourhood Watch programs in Canada as well (we just spell it
different :-), but I recall a time when the neighbourhood that I lived in
was getting a reputation for drugs and prostitutes and besides Neighbourhood
Watch a somewhat more aggressive (almost vigilante) group sprang up that was
patrolling the streets and harassing people who seem to be loitering. I
found them disturbing as well.

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