Sheriff Joey East Urges Radar Use, Decries Legislative Roadblock

Lafayette County Sheriff Joey East publicly urged Mississippi lawmakers to let county sheriffs use radar speed-detection equipment, saying deputies lack a tool that could save lives and charging that legislators have effectively excluded county residents from equal protection. “It is almost like county lives do not matter to the legislators,” East said, framing the issue as unequal treatment compared with state troopers and municipal police.

The measure at the center of the debate was Senate Bill 2614, which would have granted sheriff departments authority to use radar. SB 2614 cleared the Highways and Transportation Committee but was tabled on Feb. 12 and is now being described as dead, halting the bid to extend radar to county law enforcement during the current legislative session.

Under current Mississippi law, sheriff’s deputies are prohibited from using radar while Mississippi State Troopers, municipal police within city limits, and university police are allowed radar for traffic enforcement. Without radar, deputies rely on pacing — matching a vehicle’s speed — to produce evidence for a speeding citation, a practice sheriff offices say is flawed and less reliable than electronic speed detection.

East emphasized the local stakes for Lafayette County, calling the county “one of the fastest-growing communities in the state” and saying excessive speeding is the single most frequent complaint his office receives. “One of my most frequent complaints in our county is about speeding and we understand it,” East said, adding that allowing radar “would be another tool that law enforcement can put in their tool belt for public safety.”

Panola County Sheriff Shane Phelps echoed the safety argument and signaled operational readiness should the law change. “It’s not about revenue or the money coming in, it’s about the amount of people that are speeding on these county roads, and the complaints that we’re getting from the people of the county about the speeders,” Phelps said, and both Phelps and East have said they would equip their departments’ cars and trucks with radar devices if the legislature approves the change.

Other long-running efforts to change the restriction were voiced by an official identified as Sims, who said the exclusion is “very, very frustrating” and noted he has pushed for the law to be changed since taking office in 1981. Sims linked use of radar to lowering death and injury rates on county roads.

East pushed back on revenue-based critiques, saying, “We do not care where the money goes. We simply want to save lives of our community members. We are not trying to generate revenue for our county but save lives,” and added that radar “simply saves lives” in the hands of trained officers. He said sheriffs are directly accountable to voters, a safeguard against misuse, and described himself as “very disappointed” that SB 2614 stalled on Feb. 12.

If lawmakers revisit the issue, East and Phelps say their departments are prepared to buy and deploy radar equipment with training and calibration to focus enforcement on safety. For Lafayette County drivers, that would mean the same technology used by state troopers and municipal departments could soon be policing county roads — if the Legislature reverses course.