Sergeant Andrew G. Hawkes
The average citizen, even the average patrol officer, often fails to realize what type of criminal element is driving down the interstate highways of our country. If you do not work highway interdiction, or as some call criminal interdiction then this element doesn’t really exist to you, all you see are thousands of cars driving on the road daily.
Over the years that I worked the highway, not only did I seize thousands of pounds of dope, hundreds of thousands of dollars in dope money, but also ran across just about every type of criminal imaginable. While looking for dope, the list of other types of criminals and offenses mounted.
Stolen vehicles were recovered, child molesters with kiddie porn loaded down in the trunks were arrested, bank robbers with automatic weapons and bullet proof vests were taken into custody, white supremist transporting guns across state lines, murder suspects, rape suspects and others were all caught when they felt they were safest, in-transit on the highway, several states away from their fugitive state.
My point is that without interdiction officers, these criminals WOULD be safe on the highways. Your average traffic cop or beat officer will not work the interstate thus leaving these scumbags to drive right on by them, as long as they aren’t speeding, of course.
It’s up to our troopers, county Mounties, and local boys to get on the interstate if one rolls through your jurisdiction and find these felons on the run. Because if you don’t, they may just stop off in your town to gas up or use the restroom, and commit a violent crime in the process. Learning to develop your interdiction skills and your investigative skills is a must if you wish to do more than run a radar gun during your career.
Trust me, I can tell you that the adrenaline rush of a good foot chase, car chase or opening a trunk and seeing 200 pounds of coke is a lot more exciting than writing Mr. Rogers a speeding ticket for 45 in a 35.
