FORCE TARGETS METH LABS

Firearms drills are just part of the training for a team of police officers
assigned to clean up and dismantle methamphetamine labs in the Quad-Cities
area.

Their weapons training shows that the danger of meth labs doesn't end with
the chemicals, their byproducts, and flammable gases. It extends to the
drug makers - called "tweakers" by drug officials.

Tweakers, fueled by the drug, often stay awake for days at a time and
become paranoid and schizophrenic.

"You have the hazards of the lab and the hazards of the idiots who run it,"
said Agent Jim Urquiza, assistant director of the Quad-City Metropolitan
Enforcement Group, who oversees the team.

At a recent session at the Bettendorf police and fire departments' training
site, the team's 15 members - from police agencies on both sides of the
river - worked with firearms, identifying different kinds of labs, and
procedures for collecting and removing evidence.

Team members come from the Rock Island and Scott county sheriff's
departments and the Moline, Rock Island, East Moline, Davenport, and
Bettendorf police departments.
The three-year-old team has handled six methamphetamine labs this year -
far below the epidemic number of labs uncovered by law-enforcement agencies
elsewhere in Iowa and Illinois, Agent Urquiza said. "We expected the
problem to be worse."

Last year, 15 methamphetamine labs were uncovered in Scott and Rock Island
counties, Agent Urquiza said.

In 1999, six of the 246 meth labs seized statewide were in Rock Island
County, according to Illinois State Police statistics. No meth labs were
discovered in Scott County in 1999 - surprising, considering that 500 were
seized in the state, 180 more than in 1998, according to Iowa police
statistics.

Police officials said having a special team to handle methamphetamine labs
has economic, investigative and safety advantages.

"It is great to have that team around," Rock Island Police Chief Anthony
Scott said. "You get proper handling, and the taxpayers of Rock Island,
Moline, East Moline, the county don't have to worry about paying for cleanup."

The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) pays for the teams' lab cleanup,
Chief Scott said.

"It spreads the burden around, with MEG, DEA, and the Illinois and Iowa
state police helping," Scott County Sheriff Dennis Conard said. " As far as
the sheriff's department is concerned, that would be who would handle that
investigation.

"It is nice that they pick up on it and carry it through."

The DEA and the Occupational Safety and Heath Administration certify team
members after training them to handle and clean up meth labs, teaching them
the dangers of the labs and familiarizing them with 150 recipes used to
make the drug.

To make methamphetamines, several common volatile drugs are used, including
ether, anhydrous ammonia, and lithium. A quart o ether has the explosive
power of four sticks of dynamite; lithium, taken from batteries, explodes
when it comes in contact with water.

The creation procedure itself leaves dangerous byproducts. Making one
pound of methamphetamine creates six pounds of hazardous waste, according
to DEA information.

Along with firearms and identification drills, team members practice their
dismantling and removal skills once a month, wearing chemical suits and
scuba gear.

"The skills are perishable, so if you don't use them, you forget them,
Agent Urquiza said. The suits, other equipment, a truck and an equipment
trailer were paid for through grants, he said. Team members share the
suits, which cost about $5,000 each, during training and at lab sites.

The team also trains at night, Agent Urquiza said. "We have to do this 24
hours a day, seven days a week, whether it is at night or the middle of the
day."

Cleaning up a lab site can take anywhere from a couple of hours to six or
seven, dependning on size, and can cost from $5,000 to $150,000, Agent
Urquiza said.

Team procedure usually includes a six- to eight-person entry team, with
four people in suits on standby outside, Agent Urquiza said. Fire
departments and ambulance crews also stand by.

Methamphetamine labs are treated as crime scenes, with team members
photographing and measuring evidence, Agent Urquiza said.

After the team secures the lab site, a hazardous-materials team arrives to
dispose of the hazardous chemicals. Illinois labs are cleared by a company
from Rockford; while Iowa labs are cleared by a Kansas City company.

Unlike most jurisdictions in Iowa and Illinois, which are left to prosecute
methamphetamine crimes at the state level - with lesser sentences than at
the federal level - the Quad-Cities has the luxury of having a local U.S.
attorney's office.

Agent Urquiza credits federal prosecution of methamphetatmine crimes in the
Quad-Cities area as a reason the drug is not as popular here as in other
parts of Iowa and Illinois. "We are ahead of the curve on this."