Pubdate: Wed, 23 Jul 2003
Source: Beaufort Gazette, The (SC)
Copyright: 2003 The Beaufort Gazette
Contact:  http://www.beaufortgazette.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1806

RIDGELAND POLICE SEIZE DRUG JACKPOT

New Child Makes Drug Interdiction A Priority

Police officers in Ridgeland may not stop the sale of drugs in America, but
the department is making a dent in the quantity of drugs that arrive at
destinations outside its jurisdiction. On Sunday, officers hit the jackpot
with the seizure of cocaine that had an estimated street value of $4.2
million.

Ridgeland Police Chief Richard Woods, the son of the man for whom the
Richard V. Woods Bridge from Beaufort to Lady's Island is named, stood guard
over the 30 bricks of cocaine at a news conference on Monday.
Matter-of-factly, he said this was not a new trend. Shipments of drugs along
the I-95 corridor that stretches from Miami to New York has been occurring
for two decades.

Until recently, though, little interruption of the drug traffic has been
made. Woods has made it a priority.

His tenacity has paid off. Before Sunday's arrest and seizure, the
department had confiscated a variety of drugs valued at $800,000, as well as
more than $300,000 in drug money in Woods' 11 months as chief. Last month
alone, the department, which patrols eight miles of I-95, seized 2 kilograms
of hashish estimated at $200,000 from a vehicle traveling south. Woods said
the largest money confiscation was in November, just four months after he
was named chief. A traffic stop yielded $120,779 and the arrest of an
Colombian who entered the country illegally.

Ridgeland gets 80 percent of the confiscated money, which the town has put
to good use beefing up the police department. Woods and town officials also
have matched some of the money with a $58,000 James F. Byrnes Federal Drug
Control Grant to purchase a Chevrolet Tahoe and to add a full-time officer
to the nine-member department.

Slowly but surely, the department will make a dent in the drug traffic that
travels the corridor. The risk, though, in this dangerous business is great
for police officers. Training is key to saving lives as well as making sure
the department doesn't get a reputation or charges of profiling as they seek
to curb the drug traffic.
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