‘These people want to feel protected’: Florence County Task Force completes one month of operations

Curbing violence and seizing drugs are two big goals the Violent Cime Task Force has in Florence County. 

The specially trained task force focuses on street crime and narcotics. The Florence County Sheriff’s Office and the Florence Police Department trained their officers to join the specialty team.

Sheriff TJ Joye with the Florence County Sheriff’s Office said operations began Aug. 1 and the task force has already made 44 arrests including 21 felonies, 14 misdemeanors and 9 fugitives. They also seized the following:

• 21 Illegal Weapons
  
• 1530 grams of Marijuana
  
• 37 grams of Crack Cocaine
  
• 27 grams of Cocaine
  
• 18.2 grams of Psychedelic Mushrooms
  
• 3.5 grams of Heroin
  
• 7 doses of Controlled Substances
  
• $7,351 of cash seized
  

Joye said he is proud of the team’s work so far and it all comes down to protecting the community.

“These people want to feel protected, they want to feel safe in their home,” said Joye. “It’s awful to live and you’re in your home and you have to worry about somebody drive-by shooting. We’re just trying to crack down on this. So far, in my opinion these are pretty impressive numbers.”

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