OFFICERS TRAIN TO RESPOND TO METH LABS

Class First Given In Valley

Dressed in protective suits, rubber gloves and masks, the men sorted
through containers, pulling out soda bottles, plastic tubing and jars
of unknown liquids.

They searched carefully, wary of any booby traps.

But in this case, they found little more than a mousetrap.

This, after all, was a training exercise. But at a real
methamphetamine lab, as these police officers know all too well, they
may not be as lucky.

"You're going into a situation where you don't know what you have,"
Rick Kinney told a room full of police officers this past week in
Terre Haute.

Kinney, who works for a Kentucky environmental firm, warned the
officers of safety issues -- including the risk of homemade bombs that
"cooks" may leave behind to protect their goods -- as he taught a
five-day certification class that prepares police to properly
dismantle a meth lab. The training was the first of its kind offered
locally.

"It's a good training class. It's definitely a good certification to
have," said Parke County Deputy Justin Salisbury, who works in a
county where 33 meth labs were discovered last year, compared to just
12 a year earlier.

More than a dozen police officers -- some who specialize in narcotics
- -- received classroom instruction from Kinney, along with a hands-on
demonstration to prepare them for dangers they may encounter on the
job. The hazards of drug labs can range from short-term side effects
- -- such as headaches, sore throats and breathing problems -- to the
potential for explosion.

"We really need to be conscious of the atmosphere we enter," said Paul
Hartzler, a detective with the Vigo County Drug Task Force who
attended the training.

The stimulant meth, which has long been the Wabash Valley's drug of
choice, has grown in popularity since a recipe for the stimulant made
its way to the area just over five years ago. Before long, "backyard
chemists" began manufacturing the drug using household ingredients and
farm fertilizer to convert over-the-counter decongestants into meth.

Despite law enforcement efforts to curb what some have described as an
epidemic, the number of labs has skyrocketed. Statewide, 1,260
clandestine drug labs -- most of which were producing meth -- were
discovered last year, up from 998 in 2002. Just six were found in 1996.

Last year, Vigo County led the state with 108 labs.

While the Indiana State Police have troopers trained to clean up the
labs, some agencies prefer to have their own officers certified to
respond.

At the Vigo County Drug Task Force, three detectives already had
received drug lab certification through the Drug Enforcement
Administration. But considering the epidemic, that number simply
wasn't enough, said Capt. Tony Bauer of the Drug Task Force.

"Sometimes they came in looking like zombies," Bauer said of the
detectives who often worked a full day and returned home before
getting a middle-of-the-night call to respond to a lab.

With last week's class, seven additional task force officers --
including four transferred to the unit at the start of the year --
received the necessary training so response to the labs could be
spread between more officers.

Deputies from Clay, Parke and Jackson counties, as well as a West
Terre Haute officer, also attended the training, at the cost of about
$600 a piece. The bill for Drug Task Force detectives will be covered
either by funds seized from drug dealers or fees from traffic
infractions, said Jim Walker, Vigo County chief deputy prosecutor.

While officials at most agencies would prefer to send their officers
to the DEA clandestine lab school -- which is provided at no cost and
includes about $4,000 worth of protective equipment -- the federal
agency simply cannot meet the demand for training requests.

"We recognize the need for training. We're trying to respond with the
resources and we're trying to be fair about it," said Armand
McClintock, assistant special agent in charge at the DEA's
Indianapolis district office.

McClintock sorts through the many Indiana applicants for clandestine
lab training, prioritizing those who are dedicated narcotics officers
in areas most effected by meth -- especially areas where certification
is scarce.

Some of those who attended last week's training in Terre Haute said
they'd been on the DEA's waiting list for about two years. While
McClintock said such a long wait is unusual, he acknowledged there is
a continual waiting list for schooling.

"Not only does Indiana have a huge problem with methamphetamine, but
so does virtually every other state," he said. "Law enforcement in
general is being literally stretched dollar-wise and manpower wise."