Pubdate: Mon, 18 Feb 2002
Source: Birmingham News (AL)
Copyright: 2002 The Birmingham News
Contact:  http://www.al.com/bhamnews/bham.html
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/45
Author: Carol Robinson

OFFICER PUTS SEMINAR INTO ACTION WITH I-20 DRUG BUST

A Pell City police officer proved to be a quick study when he made a drug 
bust on Interstate 20 Friday, his first day back at work after attending a 
seminar called Aggressive Criminal Interdiction.

Officer Vince Warrington stopped an eastbound U-Haul truck about 2:50 p.m. 
for following too close to another vehicle. The officer noticed that the 
driver appeared nervous and asked to search the truck, authorities said.

Riverside police Officer Richard Woods and his dog, Xeno, assisted 
Warrington in the search and the canine indicated something amiss in the 
truck's cargo area.

Warrington noticed a piece of plastic coming from the back of an older 
model television set. A closer look turned up five bundles of marijuana 65 
pounds hidden in the television.

The driver and the passenger, who were en route from Texas to North 
Carolina, were taken into custody and will be charged with drug trafficking.

"I feel really good about getting these drugs off the streets. This is a 
good hit," Warrington said Sunday. "I'm very proud. If I could do this 
everyday, all day long, I'd do it."

Pell City Police Chief Mike Hale praised his officer, who had just attended 
a school taught by officers from the Villa Rica, Ga., Police Department, 
one of the nation's leading departments in making highway drug interdiction 
arrests.

"Officer Warrington has a real passion for pursuing drugs," he said. "Drugs 
are a scourge to our society and public safety and we're committed to 
stopping the flow."
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