Pubdate: Mon, 01 Mar 2004
Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch (MO)
Copyright: 2004 St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Contact:  http://www.stltoday.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/418
Author: Matthew Hathaway
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)

READINESS HAS COUNTY LEADING STATE IN METH BUSTS

Readiness Has County Leading State In Busts

Drug force has people, training, help of public

When Jefferson County narcotics investigators responded to calls that 
someone might be making methamphetamine at a home in Hoene Springs, they 
weren't sure what they would find. They certainly didn't expect the tips to 
yield one of the biggest discoveries of drugs, weapons and cash in several 
months.

But Sgt. Tommy Wright, head of the county's drug task force, says that's 
how the meth war is. And preparing for the unexpected is one of the reasons 
why police officers in Jefferson County last year found more meth labs and 
related things than any other force in the state, according to state crime 
data released last week.

One of the secrets, Wright says, is never to embrace any of the stereotypes 
of who uses meth or where it is made.

"We're finding meth being made at every socioeconomic level. It's not a 
drug that's just being made in trailer parks and out in the woods," Wright 
said. "And because we've taken so many repeat offenders off the streets, 
we're finding new guys making this stuff all the time."

For example, there's the house raided Thursday in Hoene Springs, on a 
residential street off Highway W. Wright said officers had found "a 
large-scale meth lab," more than 10 stolen guns and $2,000 cash. That find 
led to another down the street, where the suspected meth cook's brother 
lived. There officers say they found another meth lab, more than $10,000 
cash and several more firearms, including an assault rifle converted to a 
fully automatic machine gun. Also on the street, officers found another 
home occupied by a friend of the brothers. There, Wright said police had 
found an indoor marijuana-growing operation, more meth, more firearms and 
about $3,000 in cash.

The three men, all in their late 30s and early 40s, were arrested, although 
they will not be charged pending results from a state crime lab.

Police operations such as that have put the task force on track to surpass 
last year's record number of so-called meth-lab discoveries - a term that 
includes raids on working drug labs, as well as abandoned labs, illegal 
ingredient and equipment stockpiles and meth-related dumpsites found by 
police officers.

Last year, police in Jefferson County made 161 discoveries, which helped 
push Missouri's total to about 2,860 such discoveries. That represents a 5 
percent increase from the state's 2002 total and more than 15 percent of 
nationwide meth-lab discoveries reported to the Drug Enforcement 
Administration last year.

According to the Highway Patrol, police in Jefferson County discovered 148 
meth labs, ingredient caches or dumpsites in 2002.

Meth-lab discoveries increased last year throughout the St. Louis area. The 
Highway Patrol says 56 raids and seizures occurred in St. Louis County, 88 
in St. Charles County, 107 in Franklin County and four in St. Louis. The 
Illinois State Police reported that Madison County led the state with 90 
meth-lab discoveries, while St. Clair and Monroe counties reported only 
single-digit totals.

Wright says his task force's record number of busts had more to do with 
manpower than new laws or an abundance of meth in Jefferson County. 
Although the exact size of the unit is not disclosed, it includes more than 
a dozen sheriff's deputies and municipal officers.

The task force may get bigger with the help of more federal money. 
Jefferson County's annual federal grant to fight methamphetamine tripled in 
November to about $150,000. The grant was part of $3.2 million directed to 
60 state law-enforcement agencies and drug task forces.

"A lot of the busts we're making is because of additional manpower," Wright 
said. "We're out there every night, and it shows."

Wright said that when it came to meth interdiction, another advantage 
Jefferson County had was a large number of former task force officers now 
working as road deputies and patrolmen. After rigorous meth training and 
stints on the task force, these officers can spot meth labs that many other 
police officers would miss.

"We've got a lot of guys back in uniform that are actively pursuing meth 
labs, and that doesn't happen in a lot of other places," Wright said.

Wright said Jefferson County officers also benefited from residents who 
were diligent about calling police departments about suspicious chemical 
odors often associated with meth labs. Still, he said, police departments 
need more civilians to be the eyes, ears and, in the case of meth, the 
noses of law enforcement in their areas.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom