METH LAB BUSTS DECLINE AS DRUG COOKS GO RURAL

Tacoma police and Pierce County sheriff's deputies raided fewer
methamphetamine labs in 2001 than in 2000, but not because fewer people
were cooking the illegal drug.

Last fall, Tacoma police cut the number of officers checking tips about
clandestine labs. As a result, police uncovered 134 labs in 2001, compared
with 141 in 2000. Before the cutback, the department expected to break its
2000 mark.

The sheriff's department, which has the only full-time meth team in the
state, found 175 labs last year, compared with 201 in 2000.

Despite the lower numbers, officials from both agencies said Pierce County
continues to have the state's worst meth problem, with officers discovering
more than twice the number of labs as in any other county.

"As soon as one person is taken down, many more take the place," said
Tacoma police Lt. Michael Miller. "It's a fact of life we deal with day in
and day out."

Priscilla Lisicich, executive director of Safe Streets, said the police
cutbacks mean community members will have to be more aware of drug problems
in their neighborhoods.

"It puts the pressure on the community to be even more vigilant," she said.
"It's a tough call, I know, for the police department."

Pierce County detectives say the drop in busted labs is partly because of
drug cooks moving to other counties to avoid stepped-up enforcement.

"We're just moving it out of our community," said detective Sgt. Dave
Dewey, who commands his agency's meth team. "They're not just going to quit."

No state agency tracks just the number of meth labs busted in each county,
though Department of Ecology statistics show how many times crews were
called out to clean up either illegal labs or dump sites.

Statewide, Ecology officials cleaned up 1,886 meth labs and dump sites last
year, compared with 1,454 in 2000. Pierce County remained atop the list,
with King County a distant second.

In 2001, cleanup crews went to labs or dump sites in all of Pierce County
585 times, up from 545 in 2000. In King County, crews cleaned up chemicals
at 271 labs or dump sites in 2001, compared with 231 in 2000.

Thurston County sheriff's Capt. Jim Chamberlain said the number of busted
meth labs needs to be looked at skeptically

"The signs are hopeful compared to what we've seen in the past," said
Chamberlain, a commander with the Thurston County Narcotics Task Force.
"There are so many other facets with this drug problem than others in the
past."

In Tacoma, the police department's drug fighting was hurt when one of two
special emphasis teams was disbanded and eight officers and one supervisor
were reassigned to patrol duties.

The North End Community Policing Team had investigated crime sprees in the
northern part of the city and followed up on residents' tips about meth labs.

"They had more time to go out and work tips," said Lt. Michael Miller, who
commands the Special Investigations Division. "They were very helpful."

The second unit, the South End Community Policing Team, continues to
conduct similar investigations, but doesn't devote as much time to tips
about meth. The team also might be disbanded.

Administrators are making the changes to solve staffing problems caused by
vacancies and military leaves, Miller said.

More than half of the 134 Tacoma labs busted last year came from the work
of the North End and South End policing teams, Miller said.

In addition, patrol officers are trained to spot the signs of a meth lab,
though they most often respond to calls - including burglar alarms and
traffic accidents - that don't take them to places where labs are set up.

"It's just not as effective as people who have the time to go places where
we expect to find meth labs," Miller said. "I don't see any way we get the
team back until we hire more people. And we're a good year away from
getting relief."

In Pierce County, the sheriff's department has eight full-time
investigators and 20 deputies assigned part time to its anti-meth team.

The team also has gotten help from Sumner, Buckley, Orting and Bonney Lake
police departments, which have assigned patrol officers to work part time
with the deputies.

"I think we are effective," said Pierce County's Dewey. "We're actually
driving them out of here."

Of the state's 37 other counties, six - Columbia, Ferry, Jefferson,
Klickitat, Mason and Pend Oreille - saw decreases last year in the number
of meth labs and dump sites found by investigators, according to the
Ecology Department.

Among counties seeing significant increases were Thurston, Lewis and
especially Spokane, which had the largest increase in meth labs and dump
sites in 2001, going from 137 to 248.

Spokane County sheriff's Lt. Chan Bailey, coordinator of the Spokane
Regional Task Force, attributed the jump to the drug trend moving east and
to residents learning more about how to spot a meth lab or dump site.

Thurston County sheriff's officials investigated 151 labs and dump sites in
2001, compared with 139 in 2000. In Lewis County, the numbers were 61 in
2001 and 43 in 2000.

Thurston and Lewis officials said the increase can be blamed on Pierce
County's beefed-up enforcement and on the migrant cooks heading for the
secluded northeastern corner of Lewis County around Mount Rainier National
Park.

"It's rural, it's out of the way, it's not as patrolled," said Doug Lee, a
Centralia police detective assigned to Lewis County's six-member Unified
Narcotics Enforcement Team.

Lee said the enforcement team doesn't blame Pierce County for the increase
in meth cooks.

"It's just the price of doing business," he said. "We'll start driving them
out of our county. I certainly would not want Pierce County to slow down."