COUNTY'S ANTI-DRUG TASK FORCE PAYS BIG DIVIDENDS IN ITS FIRST YEAR

Thanks to a healthy infusion of state grant money a year ago, Jefferson
County drug pushers are paying a higher price for making and selling what's
referred to as "poor man's dope."

It has been a year since the burgeoning popularity of methamphetamine led
to the formation of the Jefferson County Municipal Enforcement Group, also
known as the narcotics task force.

Methamphetamine is an addictive drug with a long-lasting high that can be
manufactured easily from ingredients that are both common and legal.

Now, officers are pointing to recently released statistics as proof that
they're putting a big dent in the trade of the drug:

* From July 2001 through June 2002, the task force raided 133 meth labs.

* In the same period, the task force made 446 felony and 230 misdemeanor
arrests.

* The tax force seized $134,683 from suspects, along with weapons, drugs
and drug ingredients.

The number of manufacturing sites raided this year is up from last year,
says Jefferson County Sheriff's Sgt. John Dolan, head of the narcotics task
force.

"We took down a total of 84 (meth labs) last year, and we're at 80 in early
July this year, so I'd say we're probably going to double the amount we had
last year," he said.

The reasons for the increased effectiveness of anti-meth operations in the
county are fairly simple: money and manpower.

Jefferson County received about $150,000 from the state last year, which,
when combined with local spending of about $120,000, allowed the number of
officers on the narcotics task force to be doubled to 12 from six.

Those include officers from police departments in Arnold, Festus, Crystal
City and De Soto. Pevely and Herculaneum make financial contributions to
the effort.

"What this allowed us to do was to finally get out there and run with the
problem and keep up with it better than ever before," Dolan said.

The state provided a larger grant for the fiscal year that started this
July, thus allowing the task force to pay for the services of a full-time
assistant county prosecutor to help with drug cases.

"Based on our increased arrest output, they were able to justify giving us
another prosecutor," Dolan said. "It's going to allow us to work more
closely. They'll know what we're doing and how we're doing it, and we'll be
able to approach that person 24-7."

A police chief called the drug task force's first year of operations an
"unqualified success."

Tim Lewis, Festus Police Chief, said the group had been part of 80 felony
and misdemeanor drug arrests in Festus and had busted 21 meth manufacturing
sites. Much of the success had been due to how smoothly the Sheriff's
Department and representatives of the other agencies have been able to work
together, he said.

"The combination of resources from different agencies has opened doors and
given us people we could dedicate just to the drug trade in Festus," Lewis
said.