CIVIL ACTION CAN DENT DRUG CRIMES

Experts Say Careful Observation, Documentation Can Help Police Nab Offenders

Linda Damrow wishes she had a dollar for every time she hears
concerned citizens say they don't want to report drug activity in
their neighborhoods for fear the drug dealers will "burn my house down."

"The only houses I've seen burned down so far have been meth houses,"
longtime Montgomery County Sheriff Dennis Rice responded.

The exchange took place Wednesday during the last of four brown bag
forums on methamphetamine hosted by the Mental Health Association.
About 40 people listened as Damrow and her husband, Don, talked about
efforts to rid their Crawfordsville neighborhood of a "drug house"
where children lived and methamphetamine was manufactured about 3 1/2
years ago.

The process of documenting the suspicious activity taking place at
the house and frustration over the inability of police to build
probable cause to obtain a search warrant against the suspects led
the Damrows to learn about a program called Neighbors Against Drugs.

The program, which the Damrows first learned about from police in
Sheboygan, Wis., works with police to rid residential areas of drug
activity through the use of public nuisance laws and neighborhood action.

The Damrows have been promoting the program around Montgomery County
and said it could help save some neighborhoods in the Lafayette area.

Building criminal cases against drug dealers and meth makers takes
time and resources. In order to obtain a search warrant, Rice said,
police often have to have a statement from someone who has been
inside the suspect's house and seen drugs.

"The deals happen so quick," Don Damrow noted.

But Linda Damrow said civilian neighbors can keep a "drug diary" of
observable signs of drug activity at a certain house and use that
documentation to build a case for civil action that can be taken
against the owner of the property.

Under the Neighbors Against Drugs program, neighbors' documentation
of suspicious activity is reviewed by local police who may approach
the suspects with a friendly warning.

Once the problem is solved, through eviction or arrest, the program
holds a neighborhood victory celebration.

Audience member Joe Vanable, noted it took a long time for Indiana
legislators to restrict the sale of cold medicines containing
pseudoephedrine, one of the key ingredients in the illegal
manufacture of methamphetamine.

He wishes government would put the same effort into treating mental
illness, noting that a large percentage of people who abuse illegal
drugs are attempting to self-medicate their untreated mental illness.

"I firmly believe that if mental illness were treated promptly," he
said, "there would be a significant drop in drug abuse."