OFFICERS RECERTIFY IN THE FIGHT AGAINST METH IN REGION

CARTERVILLE - The danger just keeps growing for certified clandestine
methamphetamine lab dismantlers.

Police officers certified as lab dismantlers gathered at John A.
Logan College Tuesday for a recertification course.

The annual recertification keeps officers and their departments up to
OSHA standards, and gives everyone a chance to learn what new
problems are lurking at meth labs.

"We're finding a lot more explosive hazards," said Rick Lowe, a
Secretary of State bomb squad officer. "The whole name of the game is
keeping these guys safe (as they dismantle labs)."

Lowe said much of what he had to tell the dozen or so assembled
police officers was in the line of trade secrets - not really for the media.

The training the officers received Tuesday was from the same training
program DEA officers follow, enhanced with local experts discussing
local idiosyncrasies pertaining to enforcement measures against meth.

Tom McNamara, director of special programs for the Southern Illinois
Enforcement Group, said officers are encountering bombs and
booby-traps at meth labs. Learning about that is part of the
recertification of officers who have been in the field at least a year.

"One of the things about this drug is the tremendous amount of
paranoia it creates," he said. "A meth addict can't differentiate
between something that should be feared and something that doesn't
need to be feared."

In order to be certified as a lab dismantler, a police officer agrees
to be available in that capacity for three years. Recertification is
required annually. Since training includes issuance of equipment -
some of it, like the self-contained breathing apparatus, expensive
equipment - it makes sense to keep certification once it is initially
earned, McNamara said.

The concentration on meth, including new laws that limit the
availability of meth manufacture ingredients, has helped limit the
size of labs, but not necessarily the number of labs - not yet,
anyway, McNamara said.

"We knew we were not going to stop meth use," he said. "But we wanted
to control the small labs that are in every rural community. We
expect to see more Mexican and motorcycle gang meth coming. That meth
will not be as pure because it's manufactured for a profit."

Lab dismantlers are required to have yearly medical examinations,
McNamara said. That's because the toxic chemicals they work with make
them susceptible to chemical pneumonia and other illnesses. Some of
the diseases are discernable only with an X-ray or other medical examination.

McNamara said there isn't a typical profile of a police officer who
wants to become a lab dismantler. A common quality, though, is the
ability to appreciate the danger of something that can't necessarily
be seen or felt - the toxic poison from meth labs.

"You have to learn about chemistry, and most police officers have no
background in physical science," he said. "It's a whole field of
acronyms and foreign phrases and concerns. We know how to deal with
bad guys. This is a very special set of problems. This is something
that can kill you without you knowing it."

McNamara said police departments and drug enforcement agencies are
responsible for dismantling labs because the labs are crime scenes.

"We would love to give the labs to the fire departments," he said.
"But it's a crime scene and so we have to process it. The idea of
having to wear an air tank to process a crime scene would have been
ludicrous a few years ago. But they're ready to go - in their plastic
suits and air tanks."

McNamara said proposed federal budget cuts will cause Illinois to
receive less money from what is commonly known as the Byrne Grant -
money earmarked to help law enforcement officers combat drugs.

"We won't have the man-hours when the grant funding is cut," he said.
"There are things connected with this drug we never had to deal with.
I think it's really opened everybody's eyes to how much of a
community problem this is."

Michael Norrington, director of the Mobile Team Unit 15 for the
Southern Illinois Criminal Justice Training Program, said law
enforcement officers from nearly a dozen agencies were on hand for
the training. Locally, Jackson, Saline and Williamson counties were
represented, joined by law enforcement officers from outlying areas
like White County, Carmi, Mount Carmel and West Salem.