POLICE USE 'DRUG MONEY' TO REACH OUT TO COMMUNITY

In the ever-changing world of law enforcement, new equipment is as
important as taking up the latest, most innovative policing techniques. But
the Beaufort Police Department has taken a 30-year step back with the
purchase of a 10-wheel, Vietnam-era Army truck.

The 1967 Kaiser Jeep, also known as a "6x6" or a "Deuce and a Half," was
put into use last month by the department as a novel drug awareness and
community outreach tool. Bought with money from the department's drug fund,
and emblazoned with the words This Vehicle Funded By Your Local Drug Dealer
on its rear side, it is a three-axle, two-and-a-half ton example of drug
money being used on the opposite side of the law.

The department's drug fund is a pool of money that comes from the seizure
of money and assets during drug busts, Beaufort Police Chief Jeff Dowling said.

Money seized from drug arrests must by state law go back in to anti-drug
efforts, and the police department also uses the money to train its drug
officer and to pay for the maintenance of its police dog, Hunter.

Through its anti-drug slogan and use in community and youth education
programs, the truck helps raise awareness about the continuing struggle
against narcotics, Dowling said. It is also an ideal deterrent.

"We've found that if you hit them in the pocketbook, it gets their
attention," he said.

Under an agreement with the Beaufort County Sheriff's Office, the police
department gets 10 percent of the cash from any drug bust in the county, he
said. In 2003, the department received between $15,000 and $20,000 from
drug busts.

Beaufort County Sheriff P.J. Tanner said the effect of drug funds, while
not amounting to a budgetary windfall, is a unique tool for local law
enforcement.

"Distributors are making money off the addicted," Tanner said. "When their
funds are used to investigate them, we are turning it back on them."

When police seize money or assets from drug traffickers, its ownership is
decided in civil court, said Assistant Solicitor Neil Riley. The majority
of seized money goes to the law enforcement authorities, Riley said, while
smaller cuts go to the Solicitor's Office and the state's general treasury.

Whether buying trucks or training officers, drug funds can be a lucrative
source of money for local agencies.

In July of 2003, Ridgeland police officers made a $4.2 million cocaine bust
on Interstate 95, one of the largest cocaine seizures in Jasper County history.

Seizing drugs on I-95 has helped the Ridgeland Police Department establish
a full-time drug-interdiction team. The department usually gets about 80
percent of the drug money it seizes, although that cut changes if other
state or federal agencies are involved, said Capt. Chris Stevers.

Dowling said that extravagant purchases or initiatives from the
department's drug fund are rare, and that the overall goal is still to get
contraband off the street.

However, be it a Deuce truck or anti-drug coloring books, pencils, or key
rings, Dowling said there is a certain satisfaction in spending drug fund
money.

"I love taking money from drug dealers and spending it on children," he
said. "Getting the message out, that's enjoyable."