DRUG DEALERS BUY CRUISER FOR CHURCH HILL POLICE DEPARTMENT

CHURCH HILL - There's no secret about where the Church Hill Police
Department got the money to buy its newest patrol car.

It reads in big bold blue letters on the back bumper that the car was
"Bought with Drug Dealers' Money."

The $21,600 cruiser hit the road for the first time last week. Police
Chief Mark Johnson said Thursday that it took 10 years for the
department's drug fund to grow large enough to purchase the car.

"In the past we've used the drug fund to buy all the officers handguns
so they didn't have to buy their own, and we bought all the officers
shotguns and portable radios," Johnson said. "But we've never gotten a
big-ticket item like a car."

Police departments like the CHPD obtain money for their drug funds by
confiscating the property of drug dealers and then auctioning that
property when the dealers are convicted. For example, if a suspected
dealer is arrested on the road, the dealer's car will be seized.

That suspect has the right to put up a bond, and the Tennessee
Department of Safety will conduct a hearing separate from the criminal
proceedings on the seizure. If the state department rules that the car
- - or any other property seized such as cash, electronics, etc. - is to
remain seized, the CHPD can then auction it and put the money in its
drug fund.

Johnson said some of the money was obtained through seizures at
residences, but the majority of the money came from arrests that
occurred during traffic stops made by his patrolmen.

"Buying and advertising that a police car was bought strictly with
drug money is something that I've wanted to do for a long time,"
Johnson said. "But it has taken us over 10 years to get our balance
high enough to do so. Being able to do so reflects directly on the
past and present officers of this department.

"It has been their arrests and subsequent prosecutions that have
slowly added to our drug fund balance, and they can all be proud to
have a part in the purchase of the cruiser."

Johnson said he believes advertising on the bumper that the car was
purchased with drug dealers' money serves two purposes. First, it will
provide a deterrent to present users and dealers, but it also shows
taxpayers that the department's work has saved their tax dollars.

"The message is this," Johnson said. "If we catch you using a vehicle
to transport illegal drugs we will seize the vehicle, no matter who it
belongs to."

The new patrol car will be driven by CHPD Officer Dustin Dean.