HCSO cracking down on roadway littering in the county

HENRY COUNTY, Ala. (WDHN) — The Henry County Sheriff’s Office is cracking down severely on litterbugs who litter on their roads when traveling throughout the county.

“It’s been widespread throughout the county we have a lot of litter on the side of the road people are dumping off anything from mattresses to tires and so forth,” Sheriff EricBlankenship said.

Instead of just a fine to pay, if you’re caught littering, you could receive a warrant for arrest.

“The community is tired of it and if this is the route that we have to take to let people know we are serious then we will do it,” He said.

This comes after Sheriff Blankenship became fed up after seeing trash on the side of County Road 40 just a week after their litter patrol — Henry County inmates and some correctional officers had just cleaned up as it was the first road they started on.

Sheriff Blankenship took it under his own initiative to pick up the trash and while doing so he found a piece of mail in the bag that was thrown out.

“I have enough to determine whose property was in the bag that was tossed on the side of the road and so I’m going to obtain warrants and arrest them,” He said.

Outside of the trouble that littering comes with, he says it also puts a strain on their already limited manpower having to pull correctional officers out of the jail.

“It just ties up that many more deputies and have to do reports and investigations to find out who it is and we’re out putting surveillance cameras out in those areas,” He added.

Sherrif Blankenship says he gets several calls from citizens worried the littering will decrease the value of their property.

“The citizens are fed up with it,” He added.

He encourages citizens to be on the lookout for those littering or if you see anything suspicious give them a call.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WDHN - wdhn.com.