'Exterminator' armored truck will watch Illinois neighborhoods

Creative law enforcement isn't new to St. Clair County Sheriff Mearl Justus.

Last year, the dean of the region's chief cops sponsored a "haunted crack house" that used an old grange hall to depict the life of a young drug addict.

Before that, Justus publicized a "drug house of the week," aimed at shaming dealers into leaving town.

On Tuesday, his deputies lifted a plastic tarp to unveil his newest idea: an armored truck to park in problem neighborhoods as a vandal-proof platform to transmit live pictures.

"I thought about a lot of names ... I thought 'The Cockroach' would've probably been appropriate, but we settled on 'The Exterminator,'" Justus told reporters.

The donated and rebuilt armored truck, once used to carry cash, is fitted with cameras, digital recorders and gear to stream live video. Deputies will park it in front of the "dwellings of troublemakers" — for days at a time, if necessary — to reduce nuisance crimes.

"It sends a message," Justus said.