NEW TASK FORCE TO FIGHT METH PRODUCTION

Law enforcement officials now have a new tool honed for their battle
against the production and trafficking of methamphetamine in the Central
Valley.

The Fresno Methamphetamine Task Force is intended to target major players
responsible for producing and distributing methamphetamine, authorities
said Wednesday. The group will work with two other similar task forces in
the nine-county Central Valley.

About 90% of the nation's methamphetamine is being produced in the Central
Valley, law enforcement officials said.

The newly created group was unveiled Wednesday by Fresno County Sheriff
Richard Pierce, flanked by about a dozen other local, state and federal law
enforcement officials.

"We'll have an instant tie-in to anything that that is uncovered in any
part of the Central Valley and other parts of the state," said Pat Lunney,
a deputy director with the state Attorney General's Office. "One of the
major problems facing law enforcement for years is that these people are
very mobile."

The Valleywide task force will be armed with special surveillance
equipment, computers and better anti-drug intelligence, Lunney said.

An $800,000 federal grant funds the task force. The federal government
awarded the grant after the Central Valley was designated as a High
Intensity Drug Trafficking Area last June by the Director of the Office of
National Drug Control Policy.

The area covers nine counties from Sacramento to Kern and has been divided
into three regions, each with its own federally sponsored task force.

Sacramento, San Joaquin and Stanislaus counties make up the northern
region; Merced, Madera and Fresno, the central region; and Kings, Tulare
and Kern, the southern region.

Pierce said the money will be used to cover overtime and purchase special
equipment.

The task force consists of 14 full-time and seven part-time members from
from various law enforcement agencies.