DRUG MONEY PARLAYED INTO NEW VEHICLES

LUMBERTON - Several sheriff's deputies will soon be rewarded with a new
ride for their diligence in fighting drug crimes.

The Robeson County Sheriff's Office recently received a check for
$437,006.75 that comes from drug seizures. Most of the money will be used
to purchase new patrol vehicles.

Sheriff Glenn Maynor said that more than half of the office's cars have
between120,000 and 160,000 miles. The Sheriff's Office has 104 patrol
vehicles, eight of which are used by Robeson County jail personnel.

The money comes as a result of vehicle stopped on Interstate 95 about nine
months ago in which officers seized $598,000 in cash. The check represents
73 percent of that single seizure and was returned to the county from the
Department of Justice's Asset Recovery Fund.

Maynor said this was the department's second largest seizure. The largest
was $2.2 million, which was seized on the interstate last fall. The
department hasn't yet received any of that money back.

"This is part of the sacrifice that we have made and that is why I am so
grateful for our successful drug unit in the county and on the interstate,"
Maynor said.

The Sheriff's Office normally gets between 10 and 12 new cars each year,
but none were included in this year's budget because of budget
constraints. Maynor said the new vehicles will be ordered sometime in October.

Law enforcement agencies usually use the Ford Crown Victoria, but Maynor
said the department hasn't decided what type vehicle will be chosen for
these new cars.

"We'll go with the best price," he said. Overall, he said, the money will
enable deputies to continue responding to the public's needs, he said.

"This is another way, as sheriff, of keeping the public aware of where we
are spending drug-asset monies and what we are spending them for," he said.

In the past, seized drug-asset money has been spent on computers,
bullet-proof vests, two-way radios, and vehicle equipment.

Lt. C.T. Strickland, who heads the Sheriff's Office's Drug Enforcement
Division, says he's pleased that the money is being put back into the
department that initially took it off the street.

"Anytime we can better our department through hard work and dedication with
drug seizures, I'm all for that 100 percent," Strickland said. "This money
will be utilized to modernize our department, which, in turn, will help us
continue fighting the war on crime and drugs."

Strickland says that, with officers traveling the state's largest county
seven days a week, "it can put a lot of miles on a vehicle real fast."

Maynor said a new computer system is one of the next items on the list that
the Sheriff's Office "badly" needs.

"Hopefully we'll have more monies coming in from drug seizures," he said. A
new computer system to replace the current 10-year-old one would cost the
county between $600,000 and $700,000, Maynor said.