Athens County commissioners approved spending more than a $22,000 expenditure Tuesday that will grant the county’s prosecutor’s office two vehicles to use for investigations.
The commissioners have since purchased two unmarked undercover vehicles from Taylor Motors in Athens for $22,467.
Prior to the county cars, county investigators resorted to using their personal vehicles to serve subpoenas and confiscate drugs, which proved to be a safety hazard because the investigator’s families used the vehicles while investigators were off duty, said Athens County Prosecutor Keller Blackburn.
“The safety of my employees is my number one priority,” Blackburn said. “I do whatever I can to protect them from harm and I think this will make it better to do criminal investigations.”
The vehicles are not police vehicles, nor do they bear any symbols relating to the Athens County Prosecutor’s Office, Blackburn said.
“I was mainly in support of it for the safety of the investigators,” said County Commissioner Lenny Eliason.
To prevent criminals from distinguishing the two cars, Blackburn said the office would trade in the vehicles every few years.
“We don’t want people to notice the cars,” he said. “We’ll continue to trade in the motor vehicles so people don’t begin to recognize them. We’ll stay on top of them.”
The expenditure comes from the Law Enforcement Trust Fund, which uses forfeited money from criminals, said County Commissioner Larry Payne.
“The fact that this is coming from forfeited money means we don’t add extra tax money to you,” Payne said. “After putting all those factors together, this seemed like the best idea and best way to solve the problem.”
In addition to being driven while confiscating drugs and issuing subpoenas, Blackburn said the vehicles would also be used for the diversion program he runs. The program’s members complete community service projects throughout the county.
Payne initially wanted to use forfeited cars to save even more money, but there were none available. Most forfeited vehicles are auctioned once they arrive at the sheriff’s office, Payne said.
“The cars will allow investigators to be more secretive in their investigations,” Payne said. “We don’t want to say what they look like because it’ll defeat the purpose.”
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