Interstate Criminal Enforcement (I.C.E)

The Lowndes County Sheriff’s Office boasts of a state and nationally recognized criminal interdiction unit. This highly trained group of individuals leads the agencies traffic enforcement initiatives, including DUI arrests, narcotic interdiction and the movement of assets by criminal organizations.

This unit is divided into five members who specialize in the enforcing traffic law violations, focusing it’s efforts on reducing speeders and Driving Under the Influence. Among this group of professionals are Drug Recognition Experts (DRE’s). A DRE conducts a detailed, diagnostic examination of persons arrested or suspected of drug-impaired driving or similar offenses. Based on the results of the drug evaluation, the DRE forms an expert opinion on the following:

Is the person impaired? If so, is the person able to operate a vehicle safely? If the DRE concludes that the person is impaired…

Is the impairment due to an injury, illness or other medical complication, or is it drug-related? If the impairment is due to drugs…

Which category or combination of categories of drugs is the most likely source of the impairment?

The other six member of the unit is a highly trained group who focus it’s efforts into intercepting large quantities of narcotics, and other illegal items, as they are smuggled into Lowndes County and the State of Georgia.  These members of the Lowndes County Sheriff’s Office are highly trained in a variety of smuggling methodologies and highly skilled at intercepting narcotics.  In  their efforts to combat the flow of illegal narcotics they utilize drug detection K-9’s and a wide range of partnerships including local, state and federal partners to remove illegal drugs before they reach our community.