By Associated Press
Birmingham, AL – Alabama's top state trooper, Colonel Chris Murphy, says police in cities and towns with fewer than 19,000 can help state troopers patrol major highways during this week's ''Take Back Our Highways'' campaign, despite a state law.
The 1996 law banned police in small towns from stopping speeders on interstates and four-lane highways. It originated as a bill sponsored by Democratic State Senator Lowell Barron of Fyffe, who had been clocked, but not ticketed, by the Clanton and Argo police departments for driving 95 miles per hour and 92 miles per hour.
Police and sheriff's departments in every Alabama town were invited to join the troopers in this week's campaign, which ends Sunday. Murphy said officers from smaller departments can also run driver license and sobriety checkpoints.
(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)