GRANT HELPS POLICE SEE IN THE DARK

It's been nearly a week since the Washington County Sheriff's
Department received its new methamphetamine truck, and already the
department has been awarded another new device to make its operations
all the more clandestine. A $9,000 grant by the Southern Precision
Armory was awarded to the department's Special Weapons and Tactics
team to provide it with a valuable tool in the fight against area crime.

A night vision scope, primarily mounted on one of Lt. Keith Sexton's
team's sniper rifles, will provide assistance in the collection of
evidence and high-tech surveillance of a crime scene.

Sheriff Ed Graybeal was on hand Thursday as Sexton and his SWAT team
gave an up-close look at their new weapon.

"Basically, I happened to be looking on their Web site one day and
decided to apply for the grant to get one of the scopes," Sexton explained.

"The grant was based on agency size, the number of callouts we receive
and what the scope would be used for. So, I submitted the application
and we got it.

"We were the only department in Tennessee chosen and this grant was
available to departments around the country."

Graybeal said that with the rise of such domestic terrorism threats,
the grant for this scope was something that was truly needed to assist
the department. It will be a key in handling such domestic threats, as
well as fighting the rise in the manufacturing of methamphetamines in
our region.

The scopes awarded by Southern Precision Armory were ones used by the
military that have been reconditioned to sell to law enforcement. They
bolt directly onto any regular scope.

"At this time, we have about three sets of night vision goggles,"
Sexton said. "And they were about $3,500 apiece. So, to get a piece of
equipment like this for free is great.

"We would probably use the scope for just about any call we receive,
mostly nighttime operations, drug business."

Sexton explained how SWAT teams used one of these reconditioned night
scopes to locate a man wanted for murder in Florida. The scope even
found an operational meth lab in the back of his car during
surveillance.

"The use of this kind of surveillance equipment was used to catch (the
accused killer) in a trailer park and it scoped out a meth lab in the
back of his car in the process.

"Surveillance is key, especially in methamphetamine cases where the
people are always said to be on edge, coming and going, always on the
lookout; this scope can just let us sink back in the bushes until we
can move in," Sexton said.

Both Sexton and Graybeal were grateful for the grant and looked at it
as a situation most departments around the region won't experience.

"Southern Precision Armory does tactical gear that most departments in
the region can't afford," Sexton said. "It's really good of them to
help us out. We're the only department we know of in Tennessee that
have one of these scopes."

"Especially a free one," Graybeal said.