Pubdate: Thu, 03 Nov 2005 Source: Lincoln Journal Star (NE) Copyright: 2005 Lincoln Journal Star Contact: http://www.journalstar.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/561 Author: Jonnie Tate Finn Note: Accompanying picture of a Cass County law enforcement member swathed in full hazmat gear carrying a six year old to waiting medical workers during a meth lab bust training exercise in Plattsmouth Wednesday. The drill incorporated training on how to handle children found at drug crime scenes. KEEPING KIDS IN MIND AT CRIME SCENES PLATTSMOUTH - The men charged up the rickety steps to where the two girls hid from the explosions in a small room littered with nails, bugs and construction debris. A wide-eyed 6-year-old stared silently at the masked officers, who were dressed in black tactical gear and had oxygen tanks strapped to their backs. A 13-year-old struggled and was handcuffed. Downstairs, the entry team of law enforcement officers searched for a meth lab in the old, boarded-up house just outside Plattsmouth. About a dozen vehicles, a fire truck and two ambulances waited outside, where the children were taken for evaluation. The team of officers were from the Cass County Sheriff's Office and Plattsmouth Police Department. With the children in their care, emergency medical personnel debated whether they should treat the youths, who could have been contaminated by the chemicals used to make meth. "We're too close right now," Paul Hale informed his fellow EMTs as they stood a few feet away from the children. "We're dead if they're contaminated." But the children weren't contaminated, and this was no ordinary drug bust. The entry team, medical responders and members from Cass County Health and Human Services, Plattsmouth Fire and Rescue and Cass County Emergency Management were part of the training exercise Wednesday. The exercise was part of a program, Nebraska CHEM-L (Children Exposed to Methamphetamine Laboratories) Protocol, which is made possible with federal dollars and administered by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Center on Children, Families and the Law. "This was designed to see how well law enforcement agencies and medical personnel respond to children in a situation like this," said David Walker, a detective with the Plattsmouth Police Department. Through the CHEM-L program, agencies are trained how to react when children are found at the scene of a meth lab, including how to interview and medically evaluate them. "We wanted to see the (entry team's) reaction to children suspects, test Fire and Rescue's reaction to unknown variables like the explosions and see how well the agencies communicated with each other," said Walker, who monitored the entry team during the training. Matt Watson, an investigator within the Cass County sheriff's narcotics division, also monitored the training exercise and said children are at risk in homes with meth because of possible explosions, exposure to or consumption of chemicals, possible toxic doses of the drug and poor parenting or living conditions. Watson and Walker said they saw issues the entry team could work on, including how to handle a baby (a rubber dummy was used Wednesday and was stepped on a lot) and making sure the children are shielded when being undressed for decontamination (the actors wore swimsuits underneath their clothing). This was the entry team's first CHEM-L exercise, Watson said, though the team is trained in drug bust situations about every month. "I think things will go a lot better next time," he said. Most of the problems were people trying to decipher what was real and what wasn't. "I think if the same incident occurred a week from now things would go a lot smoother. They were learning how to take care of kids and dealing with medical issues." Handcuff-free, Allyson Cox, 13, said she, too, learned some things during the training. "That scared the crap out of me," Cox said. "I was all excited until I heard them coming upstairs. Just think how real kids feel when that happens, though." - --- MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman