COUNTIES GET FEDERAL GRANT TO FIGHT METH

HARRISBURG - Four sheriffs whose counties will benefit from the
$148,048 COPS Methamphetamine Initiative grant acted like kids at
Christmas on Friday.

The sheriffs were joined at the Harrisburg City Hall by community and
other law enforcement leaders from Gallatin, Hamilton, Hardin, Pope
and Saline counties at a check presentation and press conference
featuring Republican U. S. Rep. John Shimkus, who was instrumental in
securing the federal grant.

The grant was made to the Southeastern Illinois Planning Commission,
which serves the five southeastern Illinois counties.

After the conference, during which everyone was appropriately serious
but grateful, some of the law enforcement officers compared notes on
the benefits they expected from the grant.

They were almost giddy when they talked about the surveillance
equipment named in the grant - digital and video recorders, lens
extenders, infrared trigger equipment and night vision equipment.

"This surveillance equipment is going to help me a whole bunch," Pope
County Sheriff A.J. Sparks said. There are nights when he has only
two deputies to patrol the entire 370 or so square miles of county.

The surveillance equipment may help the deputies make better use of
what drug enforcement time they have. It might help the state police
drug unit that works in Pope County to make the best use of its time.
And it may help prosecute cases when they get to court.

Sparks' situation - not enough personnel to cover a wide, rural area
- - is common to all five counties. So are county budgets that are too
tight to allow even for regular upgrades to the county fleet of squad
cars let alone for fancy equipment like field drug testing kits.

"This grant isn't a lifeline - it's a lifeboat," Hamilton County
Sheriff Greg Brenner said. "This is the first grant we've had where
we haven't had to match funds. We may not have the population, but
we've got the anhydrous ammonia plants and the empty houses (in which
to cook meth)."

Gallatin County State's Attorney Tom Foster said his county will be
able to apply funds to add a full time law enforcement officer to act
as a drug agent. They will also be able to add a part-time person for
the office.

Other counties will be able to pay over-time to deputies and police
officers for drug surveillance operations.

"The federal government decided to be a partner in this," Shimkus
said. "(At the federal level) we really didn't have the money set
aside for this - we had to earmark it (as a non-competitive meth
enforcement grant). In rural Illinois we've just about stemmed the
tide on new meth production. But we just had a summit in Effingham
this week highlighting the fact that it is still a real threat."

Julie Patera, executive director of the Southeastern Illinois
Regional Planning Commission, said the low population and rural
nature of the five counties can make it easy to overlook them come
grant time. That was one reason the planning commission took a
leadership role in applying for the COPS grant, she said.

The grant was written by planning commission affiliate Dennis Presley.

COPS grants are administered through the United States Department of Justice.