Sheriff’s Office nets funds to fight drug-, immigrant-smuggling activities

By Shar Porier
Herald/Review
Published/Last Modified on Wednesday, Dec 03, 2008 - 05:14:19 am MST

BISBEE — The Cochise County Sheriff’s Office has received a piece of the $60 million pie from the Department of Homeland Security’s Operation Stonegarden funding.

During Tuesday’s county Board of Supervisors meeting, $473,360 in federal funds was accepted as two intergovernmental agreements were approved. One agreement pays for the overtime of deputies in the program. The other is for funding equipment used in program operations.

Operation Stonegarden provides local law enforcement with funding to assist with illegal immigration and drug smuggling, said Cochise County Chief Deputy Rod Rothrock.

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Though unable to supply details of the operational plans, he said, “Suffice it to say that the Sheriff’s Office intends to conduct operations to influence those communities that are being negatively impacted by drug or alien smuggling operations. Another major element of our plan is to aggressively identify and recover stolen vehicles …â€