HARRISON SHERIFF: NO SPEED TRAPS ON I-10

Patrols seize illegal drugs, enforce law, police say

GULFPORT - By the numbers

A Sun Herald analysis of traffic violations reported by the Harrison County
Sheriff's Department shows the number of tickets written increased 15
percent from 2000 to 2002. Nearly 40 percent of tickets written in 2002
were courtesy tickets. The numbers show:

YEAR MOVING VIOLATIONS NON-MOVING VIOLATIONS COURTESY TICKETS TOTAL
2002 3080 7091 6653 16824
2001 3042 7171 8712 18925
2000 2490 4045 7817 14352
1999 1225 1412 0 2637

- - ANALYSIS BY ROBIN FITZGERALD

The county administrator's office reports that 4,729 traffic tickets
written by Harrison County sheriff's deputies in 2003 generated a
collection of $411,428.47 in fines. The money goes into the county's
general fund. A breakdown:

4,262 tickets from the First Judicial District (Gulfport and western
side), $374,167.97 collected from fines.

467 tickets from the Second Judicial District (Biloxi and eastern
side), $37,260.50 collected from fines.

Police jurisdiction and ethics are issues in complaints that accuse
the Harrison County Sheriff's Department of illegally patrolling
Interstate 10 and running speed traps to boost its coffers.

The complaints are not true, said county and state officials, who
point to state law, county records and public documents to back them
up. The complaints, made anonymously to The Sun Herald, appear to be
based on misunderstanding and perception, authorities said.

Jurisdiction on I-10, a federal highway that the DEA says is a popular
route for drug-trafficking and other illegal activity, varies from
state to state. In Mississippi, the law gives jurisdiction to the
cities and counties it crosses.

The law says state troopers can write tickets anywhere in the state
and deputies can write tickets throughout their county, even in
municipalities. But the law expects state troopers to assist cities
with a population of less than 15,000, such as Pass Christian, said
Highway Patrol Capt. Houston Dorr.

Does I-10 have speed traps?

"It's a racetrack for speeders," Dorr said. "Why would any agency need
to set up a speed trap?"

A speed trap, as defined by Highway Patrol Master Sgt. Joe Gazzo, is
hiding a patrol car in areas where the speed limit drops dramatically.
Speed traps were not uncommon in the 1950s and '60s, "but I haven't
heard of it happening for years," he said.

Complaints about Harrison County patrol cars on I-10 near Canal Road
involve criminal interdiction units that also support homeland defense
efforts, said Harrison County Sheriff's Lt. Tony Sauro.

Sauro is one of several criminal interdiction officers in the three
coastal counties who, like his counterparts across the nation, is
trained to detect criminal activity while enforcing traffic laws. The
efforts, he said, have become more intensive following the terrorist
attacks of 9/11.

"What sense does it make for me to sit on a county road where only
three cars an hour pass," he asked, "when I can be in a high-traffic
area, using my training to protect our soil? I can and do patrol all
areas of the county, but I-10 is where I've seized large quantities of
illegal drugs. It's where I've caught bank robbers running from police
and a murder suspect with the smoking gun still in his car."

It's also where he's been shot at, slapped and run over by motorists
who tried to drive off.

Criminal interdiction by officers throughout Harrison, Jackson and
Hancock counties is coordinated through a federally funded program,
the High-Intensity Drug Trafficking Area. The act provides training
and information-sharing and pays for overtime.

State law allows officers to pull over a vehicle for any violation of
"the rules of the road." Officers can search a vehicle without
permission if they have probable cause.

Sauro uses a K-9 that is dual-trained to detect narcotics and to
patrol, whether he uses the dog for protection, to track a suspect or
look for a missing child or Alzheimer's patient. Officers with
explosive-sniffing dogs are called in to help as needed.

"Nobody likes to be pulled over," Sauro said, "but my mission is to do
my job in a courteous manner and to do things the right way. About 80
percent of my tickets are courtesy tickets. And when I ask to search a
vehicle, 99 percent of the drivers give permission. Criminals figure
that if they agree, you won't bother to search."

The Biloxi Police Department's criminal interdiction officers patrol
their area of I-10 in black Camaros with red markings. The Camaros
allow them to accelerate more quickly to stop motorists or chase
fleeing felons, said Sgt. Steve Show. Since January, their traffic
stops have netted more than 9 kilos of cocaine, worth in excess of
$302,000, and more than $37,000 in alleged drug money, he said.

Money and property seized in a drug case is held by federal agencies
and turned over to the arresting agency following a conviction.

Jackson County Sheriff Mike Byrd said drug forfeiture money allows
agencies to buy equipment that can't be purchased through their
operating budgets. The $1 million collected from drug forfeitures
during his first term in office paid for repairs to the county's
helicopter, weapons, protective vests, patrol cars and night-vision
goggles for a SWAT-style unit.

"You ask a drug dealer if the money you found in his car is his, and
he will say 'it's not my money' or 'I don't know what money you're
talking about,'" Byrd said.

But what about allegations that Harrison County deputies use money
from traffic fines to boost the department's funds?

There's nothing to it, said County Administrator Pam Ulrich, whose
records show deputies in 2003 wrote a total of 4,729 tickets. The
fines generated more than $411,000.

"It goes straight to the county's general fund," she
said.

Harrison County Sheriff George H. Payne Jr. said he can only assume
the complaints come from people who don't support him. A sheriff,
unlike police chiefs and Highway Patrol officials, is elected, not
appointed.

"These complaints are strictly political," he said.

Sauro said he takes the complaints personally.

"We put our lives on the line to protect the public every day and help
solve crimes," he said, comparing the complaints to an undeserved kick
in the behind.

Fine money