The Seward County Board of Commissioners approved the approved the County Department of Treasury State and Local Overtime funding for the Seward/York County Federal Interdiction Task Force during its meeting May 14.
Seward County Sheriff Mike Vance and Captain Mark Swicord explained what SLOT funds are and how they’re used.
The SLOT agreement is a partnership between the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and state or local agencies.
Swicord used an example to show how SLOT works.
“If $100,000 of drug currency was seized by our department, the federal government would adopt that case and take 30% to process it,” he said. “That $30,000 would be distributed through the federal system and then to the county and state.”
The money would be a reimbursement for the time that Seward County spends working on a federal case, Swicord said.
Vance said officers in his department are not paid for working overtime by the county, but SLOT funds could be used to cover overtime spent on working federal cases as well as court time.
SLOT funds can also be used to purchase training equipment and even police dogs, according to Vance.
Employee overtime will be paid out of the sheriff department’s drug fund but will receive federal reimbursement monthly.
Vance said Seward County has had the SLOT agreement with the Deparatment of Homeland Security, but the prior sheriff never used it.
Swicord clarified that the overtime reimbursement is case specific and said since Jan. 3, the county has had five cases qualify as Homeland Security investigations since the cases crossed state lines. The county also becomes involved investigations, after the fact.
“They’re (post facto investigations) huge in taking down cartels,” Swicord said.
