Pubdate: Mon, 09 Oct 2006
Source: Daily Herald (Arlington Heights, IL)
Copyright: 2006 The Daily Herald Company
Contact:  http://www.dailyherald.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/107
Author; Tona Kunz, Daily Herald Staff Writer
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)

KANE COUNTY GETS A BOOST IN WAR ON DRUGS

County To Receive $143,000 Grant From State

The state wants to help Kane County tackle drugs.

Gov. Rod Blagojevich's office recently announced a grant of $143,967 
to the Kane County state's attorney's office to help in the 
prosecution of drug crimes.

The North Central Narcotics Task Force, which oversees Kane, McHenry 
and DeKalb counties, received $139,670.

The money is part of $5.3aemillion in federal funds being doled out 
by the state to 20 drug enforcement agencies and eight drug 
prosecution units in 66 Illinois counties.

While the drug grants were spurred by the state's push to target the 
emergence and migration of methamphetamine use in Illinois, less 
heavily meth-infested northern counties like Kane can use the money 
to target other drugs.

Kane County State's Attorney John Barsanti said he'll look into using 
the money for drugs other than meth.

One possibility is to replace $36,000 lost from another federal grant 
that paid for salaries for drug prosecutors.

Another possibility is to use a portion of the new grant to beef up 
the drug asset forfeiture program, ideally by adding a full-time 
civil attorney to go after cars and houses owned by drug dealers.

The Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority received $50,000 
from the federal grant to bring online next year a new database for 
meth information.

That could help Kane County decipher just when, if ever, meth becomes 
a problem.

Meth labs haven't been found in Kane yet, but they have been seized 
in neighboring McHenry, Cook and Will counties. Raids on farm 
fertilizers used to produce the narcotic have been reported in DeKalb County.

Before 2002, one-half of meth possession confiscations annually 
occurred in rural counties. By 2005, however, 70 percent of drug 
confiscations came from urban areas, and 34 percent of lab seizures 
happened in urban areas, according to the Illinois Criminal Justice 
Information Authority.

Kane has so far been dealing mainly with crimes of meth possession 
and the occasional arrest of individuals caught transporting 
chemicals or equipment for production through the county, officials said.

The new computerized networking system will supplement the currently 
used national database, which has not been fully effective in 
Illinois. Because the national database requires use fees, small 
police departments can find it cost prohibitive. Also not all of the 
state police data makes it into the national system. In 2004, only 
about 85 percent of meth lab seizures in Illinois appeared in the 
national database.

Illinois hopes to present more accurate data by making the new 
database free and requiring information submissions to continue 
getting federal drug grants. The database will help pinpoint problem 
areas and allocate resources for prevention, enforcement and treatment.
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman