| ICE chills crime on interstate with K-9 |
|
By: LISA MARCHESONI, Special to the Post
|
Posted: Sunday, October 16, 2011 5:59 am
|
 Email  Print
|
Deputy Bo Davis questions Sheriff’s Citizens’ Academy student Jessica Green during an exercise. Green hopes to become a reserve deputy at Rutherford County Sheriff’s Office. (Photo submitted)
|
|
|
This is the second of a series of stories about the Sheriff’s Citizens Academy at Rutherford County Sheriff’s Office. The academy is for citizens interested in learning more about the sheriff’s office. The academy is free and lasts 16 weeks.
For more information, contact Deputy Greg Dotson at 904-3033.
Students in the Sheriff’s Citizens Academy thoroughly combed through a car searching for illegal drugs.
Some students found a package of marijuana but it took the drug-sniffing K-9 Balu to locate another hidden bag of illegal drugs. For his reward, Interstate Crime Enforcement Deputy Bo Davis tossed a tennis ball to his partner.
Balu works daily with Davis as part of the Rutherford County Sheriff’s Office’s ICE Division where a six-man team enforces traffic primarily on Interstate 24. On occasion, ICE deputies use Balu and K-9 Jett with partner ICE Sgt. Shawn Applegate to search vehicles for narcotics.
Davis and ICE Deputy Christian Wrather discussed their division to citizens taking part in the 16-week academy.
Wrather said drivers react differently when an officer asked for a drug-sniffing K-9 to walk around a vehicle.
“As soon as the dog arrived, one guy fell over,” Wrather remembered.
Suspects react differently when asked about the presence of illegal drugs.
“We’ve actually had people say ‘no’ but nod ‘yes’ when we ask if they have any marijuana,” Wrather said.
As a tool, deputies may interview a driver and a passenger to learn if there’s a suspicion of criminal activity. To demonstrate, students Jessica Green and Joseph Slabaugh posed as if they were traveling together. Wrather and Davis asked them questions about their travels, noting the discrepancies in their answers.
“Your body is not designed to lie,” Wrather said in reference to signs a person lies.
ICE team members never know when a stop will lead to another crime.
Wrather stopped a driver for a traffic violation. He and his passenger were traveling from Atlanta. Wrather checked through the National Crime Information Center computer to determine if the driver or passenger were wanted. The same travelers were suspected in a bank robbery the next day in St. Louis.
Davis said witnesses obtained the license plate number from the suspects and checked through NCIC. St. Louis officers learned the same suspects were stopped in Rutherford County and contacted Wrather for information.
In his job, Wrather said he studies case law and practices interviewing people.
“This is not just a job for me, it’s a way of life,” Wrather said. |
|
Facebook
StumbleUpon
Google
Yahoo!