The Mississippi House of Representatives will soon begin theexamination of a Senate bill that will allow the use of radar bysheriffs’ departments around the state, a somewhat controversialact that some are saying would jumble the expected responsibilitiesof county law enforcement.

“I think it will have a rough way to go,” Rep. Bobby Moak,D-Bogue Chitto, said of the bill. “It hasn’t had good chances forthe past 20 years. Every time it comes up, it gets killed.”

Moak said that political arguments have caused the radar issueto go back and forth over the years, adding that many citizens aresimply afraid of how the radar will be used.

“I get all kinds of phone calls and e-mails from folks saying,’Don’t do this – let ’em catch all the burglars before they stop mefor speeding after church on Sunday,'” he said. “But looking at itfrom the sheriff’s side, country roads can be dangerous places. Onthe nice county roads we have now, there’s a lot of fastdriving.”

Moak said the arguments for and against the radar bill have beenongoing for years without resolution, as legislators struggle todetermine which law enforcement bodies have the right to use thedevice.

Currently, radar is restricted to city police departments withpopulations of at least 2,000 and the Mississippi Highway Patrol.The only county in the state currently using radar devices isLowndes, which was previously awarded the right in a pilot federalgrant.

“There are some issues, some back-and-forth,” Moak said. “That’sthe reason the legislation has never made it. If it was clear, itwould have passed a long time ago.”

Some elected officials are willing to look through the legalcloudiness and give the radar bill another chance.

“I hope we are able to vote on it – I am for radar,” said Rep.Becky Currie, R-Brookhaven. “I get so many phone calls from parentsabout their children trying to get on or off the bus, and someonewas flying down a country road. The roads are narrow as it is, andwe just need to be following the law.”

Currie is not concerned about adding the duty of issuingspeeding tickets to the responsibilities of sheriff’sdepartments.

“A lot of people have said they’ll just be out there writingtickets and not doing other things that need to be done,” she said.”I fully trust Steve (Rushing, Lincoln County sheriff) that that’snot the case – they’ll be doing all the other things they’resupposed to do.”

Currie said the revenue generated by county speeding ticketswould eventually cover the cost of equipping sheriffs’ departmentswith radar.

“It’s a bill that will pay for itself,” she said. “You have topay for radar, train officers and keep the equipment up. But itwill bring in a revenue increase, there’s no doubt about that.”

Currie’s trust in Rushing is not misplaced, as the LincolnCounty sheriff looks at radar as a limited-use tool.

“It’s a great tool that could be used to help us in our job,”Rushing said. “I do see us as being able to use it, but I see ususing it in trouble spots and problems areas where we get a lot ofcomplaints. I don’t see us just sitting around all day long,writing tickets and running radar – we have other duties.”

As Currie mentioned, there is also the matter of training costsfor radar certification, as well as the cost of the equipmentitself.

“When an officer goes through the academy, he’s certified to useradar,” Rushing said. “But that’s only good for a few years. All myofficers would have to be retrained. And when you look at the costof purchasing the radar units, we won’t be able to run out and putone in every car. But in certain problem areas, radar would be abenefit to us and the people in the community.”

In the end, the use of radar by the Lincoln County Sheriff’sDepartment and other departments around the state could be put invoters’ hands. One of the possibilities being discussed in theLegislature is putting the radar bill on a county-by-countyreferendum.