2 NORTH FLORIDA COUNTIES STOP I-10 PROGRAMS

Move Ends Police Drug Interdiction

For years, picking up speeders and confiscating drugs on Interstate 10
has been a lucrative business for two rural North Florida sheriff's
offices.

Madison County raked in $860,000 in pure profit off its I-10 traffic
and drug enforcement program last year, while neighboring Suwanee
County took home about $410,000. The two counties about 85 miles west
of Jacksonville developed reputations as places where it wasn't smart
to speed or carry drugs on the interstate.

But in a move that has worried some law enforcement officers and
traffic safety advocates, both counties recently ended their hard-core
enforcement programs that put prowling officers on I-10 nearly around
the clock. The move puts an end to any aggressive county-based drug
interdiction programs on I-10 in Florida.

"It's obvious that more [drugs] will make it through," said Major Les
Hall of the Suwannee County Sheriff's Office, which broke up its
four-member I-10 team last fall. "In all honesty, what we're doing out
there now is just answering calls for help."

Madison County, which disbanded its four-officer team last month, was
one of the most aggressive in Florida in patrolling an interstate. An
I-10 exit near Madison was highlighted in a Rolling Stone magazine
article last year as one where police officers hide in the bushes to
catch speeders and other violators.

Newly elected Sheriff Pete Bucher, who replaced 28-year sheriff Joe
Peavy in January, said he ended the program because citizens told him
during his campaign they wanted better police service in the rural
areas of the county. Some residents who called the Sheriff's Office
became angry, Bucher said, when they realized a deputy was sitting on
the interstate while a resident waited for help.

But the programs do provide big bucks and benefits to the counties,
which receive 80 percent of the value of the drugs, cash and
contraband they confiscate. Hall said Suwannee County used its drug
interdiction money over the past four years to buy bulletproof vests,
video cameras for squad cars and night-vision devices.

Suwannee County ended its program, however, because drug seizure money
cannot be used to pay the salaries and benefits of officers in the
program, Hall said. When a federal grant used to pay officers expired,
the County Commission decided it couldn't afford to keep the I-10
program afloat, he said.

The end of the two programs also bothers the American Automobile
Association, which recently lauded the Madison County effort that
resulted in an average of 18 speeding tickets daily on I-10 last year.

"We felt that level of enforcement was warranted," said Randy Bly, a
spokesman for the AAA Auto Club South. "If you take that level of
traffic enforcement away, AAA's concern would be an increase in deaths
and injuries in that area."

The two counties were seen as solid partners in the effort to stop
drug movement along Florida's interstates, said Randy Bohman,
assistant special agent in charge for the Jacksonville district office
of the federal Drug Enforcement Agency.

"They made some substantial cash seizures and drug seizures," Bohman
said. "Without the manpower out there, you're not going to find as
much [drugs]."

Madison County's revenues from traffic and drug enforcement bought
more than police equipment, however. County Clerk Tim Sanders said the
county took home about $677,000 from traffic tickets and $130,000 in
drug seizure money in fiscal 1999-2000, most of which was used to run
the sheriff's department, he said.

Ultimately, the end of the I-10 enforcement could hurt county
taxpayers or lead to cuts in some programs, Sanders said. "Say we're
not getting that $600,000 from fines; that means we need to replace
that with money from the general fund," he said.

But while he understands the I-10 program was profitable, Bucher said
providing quality service to county residents is a higher priority --
a view shared by many other sheriffs in counties along I-10 who don't
focus their patrol efforts on the interstate.

"I personally don't feel that law enforcement is a revenue generating
organization," Bucher said. "We're not out there to gather money."

Bucher said he has heard little public comment over the policy change,
except for two compliments from residents who applauded a more visible
police presence in rural areas.

Bucher also points out that while Suwannee County has eliminated its
enforcement on I-10, Madison deputies will still occasionally patrol
the interstate.

In addition, the 350 miles of I-10 in North Florida will continue to
be monitored by the Florida Highway Patrol, though an FHP spokesman
said the patrol will miss the efforts of Madison and Suwannee counties.

"Just by stopping that sheer amount, you run into a lot of things like
drugs, warrants and other illegal activity," said FHP Capt. David
Tripp. "The impact those counties have had out there is pretty well
known."

The reputation the two counties developed for strict enforcement over
the years could actually lessen the blow of losing their I-10
programs, Tripp said.

"That legacy is there, and it will be of a benefit for some time to
come," he said.

Still, Bly said I-10 in rural Madison and Suwannee counties is flat,
straight and boring, attributes that can lead people to drive faster
and fall asleep sooner. "If they see a sudden increase in wrecks out
there with injuries and fatalities, maybe then they'll realize this
was really needed out there," he said.

AAA reviewed the Madison I-10 enforcement program after a Times-Union
story last year took a look at the extensive ticketing and patrols on
the interstate. The agency decided the Madison Sheriff's Office
efforts did not constitute a "speed trap" because the revenue from the
tickets made up only 6.3 percent of the county's $15.6 million annual
budget. The group also found that the speeding tickets written by
Madison County were for legitimate illegal speeds and were a necessary
function on a highway where speeding is common and causes a safety
concern.