UNITED EFFORT TO PREVENT SPREAD OF CLANDESTINE DRUG LABS

Belleville police, the fire department and the city's building
department are working together to prevent the spread of clandestine
drug labs in Belleville.

Det.-Insp. Mike Graham said the city of Belleville, the building
department, fire and police have entered into a protocol and are just
waiting for a few more parties to sign on in order to make it
official. With this week's $10-million drug bust by Project Longarm,
the city is ready to crack down on more drug labs.

Graham says the protocol was created to deal with indoor marijuana
grow-ops and chemical labs.

"We're very fortunate in Belleville and we haven't come across any
chemical labs," says Graham. But, he said police and city officials
remain cautious on that front.

There are a few steps to consider when seizing drugs from houses, he
said, and those steps become very complex if electricity is involved.

"Once we conclude our investigations, we execute search warrants at
the residence," says Graham. "Our job is to go in and make sure there
are no safety issues in regards to the officers that are going in and
the people that are going to dismantle. Then we dismantle, seize
product and equipment, lay the appropriate charges, and then drugs
themselves are destroyed."

Hydro meters are often bypassed when a drug lab is run within a house,
making it very dangerous once authorities are inside.

"A lot of the grows, they have bypassed the meter, we have the fire
department there for fire and safety issues and we have Veridian shut
the power down and then they do a safety inspection. A lot of it is to
protect the people going in and dismantling," says Graham."We see some
pretty elaborate hookups, and we have EMS standing by."