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CABARRUS COUNTY, N.C. — A federal program could keep more deputies in Cabarrus County.

Sheriff Brad Riley is proposing a new program to keep more deputies on Cabarrus County streets. The federal funding from Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, could save the sheriff's office money and time.

"Our local trips are becoming more dependent on those officers and we're taking them out of the community more often," said Riley.
 
Cabarrus County deputies currently make 900 trips a year to transport inmates. Two-thirds of those are to hospitals across the state, the farthest being more than 500 miles round trip.
 
"These trips are unpredictable, they could come in any time of day, we don't know," said Riley.
 
The trips often lead to overtime pay and less deputies for local calls. However with a proposal for an immigration and customs enforcement trip squad; authorities are hoping to change that and save money on almost 1,000 trips a year with federal reimbursements.
 
The change would allow four teams of two deputies to make scheduled trips within a 100 mile radius. They would pick up foreign inmates and bring them to a Georgia location before being deported, saving money and time.
 
"The only benefit I see out of all of this is that we can keep these officers in town," said Riley.
 
Sheriff Riley hopes to have the proposal approved by the end of March and start those trips this Spring. Cabarrus County would be the second county in the state to start transporting ICE inmates behind Henderson County.