Southwest Mississippi Narcotics Enforcement Unit officials say the addition of the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Department to the drug enforcement agency will be an asset in fighting narcotics.
Lincoln County officially became a member of SMNEU Thursday, joining the Pike and Walthall county sheriff’s departments, and the McComb and Brookhaven police departments.
The Lincoln department’s move marks a return to SMNEU. Lincoln County Sheriff Steve Rushing said the department left the organization about eight or nine years ago. He said he had been discussing rejoining SMNEU with his staff.
“They have improved their administration and (SMNEU Commander) Tim (Vanderslice) has it heading in the right direction,” Rushing said.
“We already work with them on cases, and we have a good relationship with their agent in Brookhaven with the police department,” he said. “They will be a great asset to us in combating drugs in the county and will help us a lot.”
Brookhaven Police Chief Pap Henderson called the addition of Lincoln County a great idea.
“I was very supportive of it,” he said. “It will help us tremendously. We’ve been working with Lincoln County and now we’ll have SMNEU in Lincoln County and Brookhaven instead of just in the city. I’m looking forward to doing some good things in Brookhaven.”
Vanderslice said the addition of Lincoln County would help SMNEU close a gap in its coverage.
“Before, we could only go into Lincoln County if one of their deputies were with us,” he said. “We’ve worked together on cases before, and now we’ll will be able to take advantage of their agents and their manpower.”
