COUNTY DRUG UNIT SNIFFING OUT RUNNERS ON INTERSTATE 24 PATROLS

It Begins With A Traffic Stop.

A deputy's emergency lights break the flow of traffic on Interstate 24.
Within minutes, three cruisers pull behind a vehicle stopped on the
highway's shoulder.

One deputy asks to see the driver's license and registration, while others
stand by, ready to help. Minutes later, another deputy leads a
drug-sniffing dog around the vehicle.

"A big part of what we do is look for things that don't look right," said
Deputy Kyle Darnell, a member of the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office
Interdiction Unit.

Since February, the unit has patrolled the 17-plus miles of Interstate 24
that pass through the county.

"We're looking for people traveling from one known drug area to another
known drug area, people with inconsistent stories and people acting
frantic, scared," Darnell said. "Those are all things that make us dig
deeper into their stories and look a little harder."

Three deputies -- Darnell, Mike Oliver and Sgt. Gill Wood -- are assigned
to patrolling the interstate full-time. A fourth deputy -- Mike Leutert --
also helps.

"We're trying not to get into a set pattern," Darnell said. "The public may
know we're out here, so we're trying not to sit in the same place at the
same time every day."

Why Interstate 24?

There are no statistics showing how drug dealers use I-24 to transport
merchandise. For years, the highway hasn't been under as intense scrutiny
as it is now.

"Most of the data that's out there that says the times and locations that
are best for hunting dope are for the heavy pipelines," Darnell said.

Other thoroughfares in the region -- including Interstate 75 and Interstate
40 -- have come under scrutiny already. And drug dealers know that.

"People transporting narcotics are having to find alternate routes and go a
little out of their way," Darnell said. "Transportation of narcotics --
it's a 24-hour-a-day, seven-day-a-week and 365-day-a-year business."

Stacey Faulkner of Paducah, Ky., found herself standing beside the
interstate at Exit 11 Thursday night as deputies searched her Jeep.

"It doesn't bother me at all," she said, watching deputies do their job.

Pulled over for speeding, Faulkner was let her off with a warning, much to
her delight.

"If you're doing nothing wrong, it's no big deal," said Christopher McNeil,
a passenger in Faulkner's Jeep. "If you are, then they're coming after you."

The majority of people pulled over by the unit, including those
transporting narcotics, consent to a search of their vehicle, Wood said.
"Most people, when you mention homeland security -- saying you're looking
for drugs, money and weapons -- they say, 'Good,'" Wood said.

Nashville resident Eric Mallard was the passenger in a car pulled over
Thursday evening. Although the deputies didn't find any drugs, they did
arrest the driver -- Jeffrey Starnes -- for an outstanding warrant.

"They're just doing their jobs," said Mallard. "They're being real
gentleman-like. They're not dogging us just to dog us."

What's been found

Sheriff Norman Lewis says he's happy with the unit's performance and he
would like to expand it, depending on its success rate and available funding.

During his days with the Tennessee Highway Patrol, Lewis was involved with
a "highly successful" interdiction unit. And since he was elected sheriff
in 1998, he has wanted to organize a similar unit in the county.

"I felt it was a good opportunity to curb the flow of drugs through our
area and also to pick up any wanted persons," Lewis said. "Most of their
successes have been small quantities. However, they've picked up several
wanted persons and stolen vehicles."

The unit's deputies never know what they'll find from one day to the next.

"Sometimes we go a few days and not find a thing after making stop after
stop after stop," Darnell said. "Then all of a sudden, you're making pretty
good-size arrests every day for a week or two straight."

Primarily, deputies have seized marijuana. But other drugs, including
crack, powder cocaine and methamphetamine, have been seized.

I-24, primarily in Kentucky, has been the venue for a growing number of
arrests related to mobile meth labs, which are a worry of local authorities.

"We've been lucky we haven't run up on one that's in operation yet,"
Darnell said. "But those are always a concern."

In addition to making drug arrests, deputies can seize any money and
property they can link to the trafficking of narcotics. Through a federal
seizure hearing, a judge can award property, such as vehicles and money, to
the county.

The property can be sold and the proceeds, along with seized cash, can be
used by the department for buying items to combat drugs.

"Most of the drugs that come into this area, or any area, come in by
vehicle," Lewis said. "Certainly, there's a lot of opportunities to hit
those drug dealers hard."