The New Year’s Eve parties spilled out into the streets for a few in Newton County Tuesday night. Riding along with the Newton County Sheriff’s Office Crime Suppression Unit, you gain a whole new respect for those who keep our county safe.

“We’re out here so that the citizens can have a safe place to live,” Deputy Ramsey told me as we patrolled.
On this night I watched as Corporal Cook and Deputy Ramsey, along with the other members of the NCSO Crime Suppression Unit, encountered numerous individuals refusing to obey the law.

“New Year’s Eve ranks as one of the highest for DUIs and illegal gunfire,” Cook said.

One of the first stops of the night was a woman with a young child, in a vehicle that had stalled on Salem Road. As officers stopped to assist the woman, they were alerted by her actions and found an open mason jar of moonshine (corn liquor) in the floorboard.

Spotted up ahead was a car with one brake light, driven by a person found to have marijuana, a scale and an EBT (food stamp) card.

The radio dispatcher relayed a call about a disturbance at a local convenience store (a fight between two females), and it required force to stop one subject whose actions clearly demonstrated someone not in a sober mind.