VIDEO TRAINS CITY EMPLOYEES TO SPOT, REPORT METH ACTIVITY

When Sgt. Russ Isham of the Salem Police Department's Community
Response Team was challenged to come up with new ways to combat the
city's growing methamphetamine problem, he decided to become a movie producer.

Isham took action last year after City Manager Bob Wells asked city
staff members to brainstorm ways to combat the spread of meth use.

"Drug houses are the biggest problem facing the city," Isham said.
"And the crimes associated with drug houses were something that we
wanted to find out if we could reduce."

Wells' challenge has prompted calls for increased anti-drug efforts
by the city's 1,500 employees.

Isham and Angie Hedrick, the neighborhood-services analyst for the
city's Department of Community Services, coordinated a video project
to train city employees.

The video features a group of South Salem neighbors who say they rid
their neighborhood of drug dealing, as well as city employees who
talk about how to recognize, spot and report illegal activity.

"We were looking for a way that we could get out the message to the
broadest range of citizens, and the video is really a great way to do
that," Wells said.

"We realized that as a city employee, you're going to see things
during the course of your workday," Isham said. "We asked, 'What can
you do as a city employee to reduce the impact of drug-related crimes?'"

"When we go home at night, we're still citizens of our community,"
Hedrick said.

The idea of building close-knit communities that could be potent
anti-drug task forces appealed to Isham and Hedrick, and they quickly
realized that the model they helped build for training city employees
could be extended to the rest of the city.

Isham and Hedrick want to get the message out beyond the nearly 1,400
city employees they already have trained and into the neighborhoods
where meth dealers and manufacturers are setting up shop.

"Obviously, meth is having a huge impact in our community, and that's
something everybody's paying attention to right now," Isham said. "We
want to show how Neighborhood Watch groups not only take care of
neighbors but could actually reduce crime in Salem."

The campaign seems to be working, many say.

"I was talking to someone from West Salem Lion's Club," Hedrick said.
"She was very excited to see the video at their organization. She
said she appreciated that everyone is talking about meth and drug
houses, but that nobody is telling people what they can do. And that
is really the purpose of the video."

Hedrick and Isham also hope to see an increase in reports of
suspected drug houses as well as strong and sustained efforts to
improve neighborhoods.

"We don't want to encourage people to do this by throwing out some
horrible statistics to scare people into participation," Isham said.

"As people get to know each other, know their kids and their
neighbors' cars, that's what will help them become more aware of what
doesn't belong in their neighborhood," Hedrick said. "That's how you
build community."