SANTEE, S.C. - Charleston police officers have strayed about 70 miles from home to help this small town patrol Interstate 95 for drugs traveling between New York City and Miami.

The arrangement, which involves two veteran officers patrolling about four days a week along a 2-mile stretch of I-95 in Santee, bring Charleston half of the assets seized and helps keep drugs off the streets, Police Chief Reuben Greenberg said.

A contract signed in 2002 so far has netted Charleston $85,000 - not enough to cover the salaries of the two officers. But city officials say getting those drugs and traffickers off the highways is a benefit.

"It's an opportunity to interdict drugs, some of which would be coming down here," Charleston Mayor Joe Riley said.

The cities of Sumter and Florence have similar patrolling arrangements with departments in their interstate areas, Riley wrote in a memo to City Council members.

Police estimate that one in 10 cars traveling through South Carolina on Interstate 95 carry illegal cargo - most of that is drugs.

Some of the cargo includes wanted felons, guns, bomb-making factories and rolling methamphetamine labs that cruise the interstate hoping to blend in among truckers, commuters and families on vacation.

Finding those criminals proves a challenge for the various law enforcement agencies that patrol the interstate. But success pumps hundreds of thousands of dollars each year into police budgets from seizures of cash and other property.

"When (drivers) see the marked car, the average drug dealer freezes up on the road," said Santee Police Chief Robert Williams, who has seven officers on his force and is thankful for the Charleston help.

Charleston officers also wrote 1,500 warning and traffic tickets in their I-95 patrols, seized three vehicles and 13 handguns, caught seven fugitives and found thousands of dollars worth of cocaine, crack cocaine, marijuana, mushrooms and the designer drug Ecstasy, according to police statistics.

Several members of the Charleston City Council didn't know about the patrols and said they don't want to micromanage where Greenberg deploys his officers.

The city's share of seizures hasn't been enough to pay the salaries - about $100,000 - of the two officers stationed in Santee and that doesn't include the cost of gas or vehicles.

Some City Council members said Charleston taxpayers shouldn't have to fund I-95 drug hunts.

"I don't think it's good public policy to have officers of the city of Charleston contracted out to another entity in a far-off jurisdiction when we have plenty of drug problems here," said Councilman Henry Fishburne.

Councilman Bob George knew nothing of the deal signed in 2002. "It's a noble effort, but I think we ought to start at home first."

Greenberg defended the patrols, saying if police concentrate only on the drugs that pop up inside their boundaries, "you're going to lose the drug war."

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Information from: The Post and Courier, http://www.charleston.net/