No Deputy Radars a Problem in Mississippi

DESOTO CO., Miss. - Lt. Brian Keller loves working for the Desoto County Sheriff's Department, but there is part of the job that he would rather not do.

"It is absolutely the worst part of the job telling someone their loved one has been killed… And when you know it was avoidable, it makes it even worse, it's like my goodness, this did not have to happen."

The Desoto County Sheriff's Department doesn't have radar, so there is no way for Keller or Desoto Co. Sheriff's deputies to enforce the speed limit on county roads.

"There is truly a need for radar here, you know we have a large number of accidents that are speed related."

Desoto County Sheriff Bill Rasco says he has repeatedly asked the Mississippi Legislature to allow the Desoto County Sheriff's Dept. to use radar, but the bill that would allow it has been repeatedly shot down in the Mississippi House of Representatives.

"If they have a relative killed from an accident caused by speeding, they would understand what I'm talking about. We need the politicians to get on board with us and realize that we are professionals, and we are out there doing a professional job and we need all the tools that a law enforcement officer should have. "

Some fear the Sheriff's departments will abuse the power and use it to strictly to make money. Sheriff Rasco says it's not about money.

"We are trying to save lives, our juveniles or our teenagers know we can't run radar, we can't give a speeding ticket, so they run right past us and don't pay us any attention."

There is not a single Sheriff's department in the state of Mississippi that currently is allowed to use radar, leaving Desoto County and Sheriff's departments around the state helpless when it comes to enforcing speed on county roads.

"I don't understand why you wouldn't want somebody to enforce the speed limit, you put up these signs, what good are they if you won't enforce them. It doesn't make a lot of sense."

Keller says that posting speed limit signs on county roads without the ability to enforce the speed limit is a huge waste of taxpayer money. The even bigger waste he says are the lives lost.

"I would like to see Desoto County get radar, I'd love to see the state of Mississippi get radar, because we have entirely too many fatalities in this state. When they make these scenes and these teenagers are laying out there in the vehicle, in that scene, it's hard, I mean it's hard for us as law enforcement officers to deal with that."