Sheriff's H.E.A.T. Team Earns National Recognition

Two Charleston County Sheriff's Office deputies earned nationwide honors recently from the National Criminal Enforcement Association.

The organization named the Charleston County H.E.A.T. unit the top DUI Enforcement Team in the United States for 2012 at its National Interdiction Conference on March 14. The NCEA also selected CCSO Master Deputy Chris Craven as the Top DUI Enforcement Officer for 2012, selecting him from a pool of 5,000 contenders.

"DUI enforcement is one of the areas where strict enforcement has dramatically enhanced the situation," Sheriff Al Cannon said.

He added that 26 people had been killed in 24 traffic accidents involving a DUI in Charleston County during 2012

The two deputies in the H.E.A.T. (Highway Enforcement of Aggressive Driving Team) were responsible for 114 of the 226 DUI arrests made by the Sheriff's Office in 2012. The H.E.A.T. deputies also wrote 1,251 speeding tickets, caught 241 people violating the seat-belt law seized drugs or weapons from nearly 30 people, Cannon said.

The H.E.A.T. unit was created in 2011, and is funded through a 3-year grant which covers the cost of a vehicle for each deputy as well as their salaries, or $125,000 - $150,000. Cannon said the unit is so successful that he plans to ask County Council to add its continued operation to the budget once the grant money runs out.