Sheriff’s deputies lack access to speed radars on county roads

OKTIBBEHA COUNTY, Miss. (WCBI) – On state highways and city streets, the Mississippi Highway Patrol and city patrol officers can pull you over for going over the speed limit.

But, if you speed on most county roads in Mississippi, there is not a lot law enforcement can do about it. With the exception of one county in North Mississippi, sheriff’s deputies don’t have access to speed radars.

Oktoc Road in Oktibbeha County, according to Sheriff Gladney, has become a problem area for speeders.

Gladney was open to the idea of giving his deputies radar guns to cut down on speed, but other officers in the state didn’t necessarily share the same opinion.

Oktibbeha County Sheriff Steve Gladney is currently serving his second term in office.

But he said the debate over whether or not sheriff’s deputies should have radar guns dates before his time.

“I know for years they’ve been trying to get a bill through the legislature where sheriffs could run radar. So far, it hasn’t ever passed,” said Sheriff Gladney.

Gladney expressed he would like to see sheriffs across the state at least be given the option to use speed radars or not.

“It’s just a tool to be able to get out and work a problem part of the county, or a certain stretch of road. The only reason we do that is for safety,” said Sheriff Gladney

Sheriff Cecil Cantrell in Monroe County, however, sees both sides of the issue.

“There’s pros and cons to anything that you do. Some people would like it. Some people wouldn’t like it. We kind of just leave it up to the legislature to make those decisions and to make the laws. That’s what we elect those people for. Whatever they decide, we’re going to enforce the law the way it’s written,” said Sheriff Cantrell.

However, Gladney said the legislature needs to consider counties with higher populations.

“I’ve got out here now over 9,000 bedrooms in apartments out in the county, and there’s issues there with the students driving a little fast or a rash of accidents in a certain location,” said Sheriff Gladney.

Gladney said the majority of residents in his county don’t know about the radar problem.

“I think a lot of them don’t because they’ll call up here and complain about where they live and parts of the county where there’s a lot of speeders, but when I tell them we can’t run radar, they are kind of shocked about it,” said Sheriff Gladney.

Gladney and Cantrell said Lowndes County is the only county in our area allowed by state law to use radar guns, and they don’t see that changing anytime soon.

“It’s going to cost money. It costs money to run anything. I don’t know how much radar would be, but I’m sure it would be very, very expensive,” said Sheriff Cantrell.

“It’s kind of frustrating to us if we’ve got a certain part of the county out there where we’re getting complaints from the citizens that cars are speeding up and down the highway. Really all we can do is just go out there and be seen because we can’t run radar,” said Sheriff Gladney.