POLICE PUBLICIZE PROGRESS MADE IN BATTLE AGAINST DRUG DEALERS

Two dozen bags of methamphetamine and cocaine, 14 rifles and shotguns, five
handguns and dozens of boxes of pseudoephedrine.

All of it was on display Thursday morning in a conference room at the Fresno
Police Department to show the drug unit's accomplishments the past three months.

More than 80 arrests have been made in that span with help from the Drug
Enforcement Administration, FBI and Multi-Agency Drug Enforcement Consortium.

"Seizing drugs alone is not the answer," police Lt. Wade Engelson said, "but
we're seizing narcotics from the highest level drug dealers, moving higher
up the drug food chain. These are not minor arrests."

Since early April, officers have seized $350,000 worth of cocaine and
heroin, $2.2 million in methamphetamine and enough pseudoephedrine tablets -
the main ingredient in methamphetamine - to make $30 million worth of the
drug, Engelson said. They also have broken up three methamphetamine labs.

And the recovery of drugs - especially methamphetamine - affects other crimes.

"If you pay close attention to the kinds of high-profile crimes that we see,
particularly child abuse and child homicide, it's often perpetrated by
parents on methamphetamine," Engelson said.