Posted Tuesday, December 2, 2008 -- 10:10

For some time now the Rock County Sheriff's Office and the Wisconsin State Patrol have had an unofficial agreement.

The State Patrol handles law enforcement on I-90/39 and I-43.

While Deputies focus on rural county highways.

But that's about to change.

"We feel strongly that the interstate is part of our jurisdiction too. It runs through Rock County obviously and we want to assist the State Patrol. We work in partnership with them, " that's according to Lieutenant Gary Groelle.

Thanks to three grants from the Wisconsin Department of Transportation totaling close to $60,000 the Rock County Sheriff's office will be able to crackdown on some reoccurring problems.

" We continue to see the same issues with fatality accidents and serious accidents where alcohol's been involved, speed's been involved and non seat belt usage are all involved in these fatality accidents."

But deputies won't just focus on speeders.

"We are increasing our patrols on the highway to look for indicators of drug trafficking."

According to Lieutenant Groelle drug trafficking continues to be a problem just like speeding and driving under the influence.

He says, "The interstate has always been an avenue for people to transport drugs."

" There's a lot of traffic that comes through. A lot of traffic that comes through the south up from Chicago to Madison. So it's prevalent."

Lieutenant Groelle says they don't know how prevalent **trafficking is.
But they hope with an increased presence on the interstate they'll find out.

Lieutenant Groelle says his office will focus on the interstate.

But, they also plan to pay close attention to county highways that they've had problems with in the past as well.