HUNTINGTON -- Although most local police support the use of cable barriers on the interstate, they say the barriers have one drawback -- they adversely affect their ability to catch speeders.
Police officers in Milton, Barboursville and Huntington say the cable barriers have limited the number of places they can cross or position cruisers on Interstate 64.
Hurricane Mayor Scott Edwards, who also serves as a volunteer firefighter, shared similar concerns at an accident scene in July. He said the barriers make it difficult for police officers, ambulances and firetrucks to respond to an emergency.
Despite those concerns, everybody interviewed said the benefits far outweigh any of the inconveniences.
Huntington Police Lt. Mike Albers and other officers in the county said the limited number of crossovers give them virtually no chance to catch someone speeding in the opposite direction. That reduces the number of vehicles one officer can check and leaves law enforcement with two options: park in one of the few, predictable emergency crossovers or check the speed of drivers headed in the same direction.
"It's a tradeoff we are perfectly willing to make," he said. "Installing these barriers really has reduced the severity of the crashes up there, so much that it's a perfectly acceptable solution."
Five law enforcement agencies are responsible for patrolling Interstate 64. They are the State Police and the Cabell County Sheriff's Department, along with city police departments in Barboursville, Huntington and Milton.
Chief Sheriff's Deputy Jim Scheidler agreed with some aspects of the barrier argument, but he said the lack of manpower is the biggest challenge to speed enforcement. He actually questioned if the five agencies employ enough officers to adequately enforce the interstate's speed limit.
"It doesn't mean an officer can't run radar in east or west directions (as the officer travels in the same direction)," he said. "It's just unfortunate that we don't have the manpower to put there. At least my agency does not, because we're running calls consistently."
Albers and Barboursville Chief Police Alan Meek said it almost requires a two-person team to be safe and effective.
"For most departments that is cost prohibitive," Albers said. "We're not able to sustain that. We can do it on special occasions and special holidays."
The Huntington Police Department's 85-man working force has the most officers working inside Cabell County. Yet, Albers said the department only has three officers dedicated to traffic full time, including himself. Their duties include patrolling the interstate and every street in Huntington, along with responding to traffic accidents, parking issues and funeral escorts.
"Our time is pretty much filled with addressing specific complaints," he said.
Smaller departments in the county split traffic responsibilities up among everyone on shift. That means the typical officer could be responding to a traffic issue one moment and a domestic violence call the next.
That, combined with the large call volumes, results in officers being pulled from call to call.
"Wherever you are, people still speed," said State Police Sgt. D.L. Chapman. "Everybody is doing as much as possible to keep the speed down. I think you've got to rely on the motorist for that. We can't sit up there and be a watch dog 24/7. The motorists have got to take some issue with it and slow down."
Milton Police Chief Gregg Mullins, Meek and Albers said they also have to deal with pleasing residents inside their respective towns. They said residents often wonder why their tax dollars support patrolling the interstate, instead of their city streets.
"We hit (I-64) when we can," Meek said. "We have people who are concerned about people speeding on Spencer Avenue, McClung (Avenue) and U.S. 60. It's a lot of area."
Meek and Mullins said patrolling Interstate 64 was easier when they received grant money to complete the task. The grant paid officers overtime to patrol the interstate.
Mullins said possible solutions include the state forming a highway patrol or giving its cities extra money to patrol the interstates. He believes traffic fines could eventually fund each officer's salary.
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