A new sheriff’s patrol in Spokane County, Washington, will target overweight trucks on county roads.

According to The Spokesman Review, Sheriff Mark Sterk will hire six deputies this fall to replace the more experienced deputies that will be working the truck weight beat. They are scheduled to begin their work by the first of 2003.
The paper notes that it is common practice for some truckers to bypass the weigh station on Interstate 90 at the Idaho-Washington line by using the county’s back roads. State patrol officers are limited by law to patrolling only state highways. County deputies sometimes team up with the county Roads Department to patrol for weight violations, but that’s only on an occasional basis – 19 days last year.
In addition to addressing complaints from residents about the trucks, Sterk told the paper that he believes the unit will generate more than $1 million a year for the department.