Sheriff Aids Law Enforcement in Mississippi

Bedford Bulletin
John Barnhart | 09.21.2005

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In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, Bedford County Sheriff Mike Brown received the following e-mail from a Harrison County, Miss., sheriff's deputy:

"Mike, my only contact with the outside world is our in-car computers. Most of us have lost everything we have. We have lost 75 percent of the residences and businesses in Harrison County. When I find the stupid cord for the camera I'll send you some pictures. I'm tired of locating bodies. You see this stuff on TV all the time, but until you walk the walk you just can't comprehend the magnitude of it all. We are already to kill each other...figuratively speaking.

"This is the first time in my life I wish I wasn't a police officer. I had to send my children to live with their grandparents in Pittsburgh. There won't be any school for at least six months. Power will take at least six weeks. This is ungodly...I don't know what you guys can do, but your email gave me a warm and fuzzy. Tell the gang we say hello. Okay bye."

In June, two members of the Harrison County Sheriff's Office, located in Gulfport, conducted a criminal interdiction school here. Ten Bedford County deputies were trained on how to use routine traffic stops to spot drug couriers, stolen vehicles and fugitives. Gulfport is one of the Mississippi towns that ended up in Katrina's sights as the killer storm waded ashore.

Brown decided to do something. He was able to put out a nationwide request for help through "American Police Beat" a widely-read police professional magazine. He also got approval from the Department of Justice to use asset forfeiture money to buy police supplies. Asset forfeitures are money and property that criminals have used in the commission of crimes, or have purchased with the profits of criminal activity.

"They made a lot of it possible," commented Brown, who was pleased that the asset forfeiture program meant that criminals ended up helping out police agencies.

The response brought in $500,000 worth of police equipment in about a week. Most came here to the Bedford area and was stored at the Bedford Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart then loaded the supplies on two 18-wheelers and a 24-foot box van. The trucks, driven by volunteer professional drivers, then headed for Mississippi on Sept. 10. They made several stops on the way to pick up more supplies and arrived in the disaster zone the next day.

"It was like standing on the moon," commented Cary Pellering, one of the volunteer drivers. "There was nothing left. I've never in my life seen anything like it."

Pellering, originally from California, drove 18-wheelers for 45 years before retiring last year and moving to the Bedford area.

The trucks' loads included computers, $45,000 worth of computer software, ammunition, $65,000 worth of uniforms, flashlights and batteries, $45,000 worth of police specialty gloves, traffic vests, boots, shoes, rubber boots, gas masks and riot helmets.

They also included camp stoves. Brown said that many law enforcement officers had been eating cold food out of cans for days. The stoves would allow them to heat it. The load even included underwear. Some officers hadn't been able to change clothes for days.

The supplies were distributed to polices agencies throughout the hurricane area by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

Pellering said that it was uplifting to see law enforcement agencies working together like family.

"Thank God for them," he said.

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Contact: Robin Sundquist 540.586.4800

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