METH-RELATED THEFTS, VIOLENT CRIMES ON THE RISE

The Madness Of Meth - Part 3 of 5

The Martin County jail is overflowing, and people convicted of meth-related
crimes make up much of its population.

"The jail's full. It's reached capacity," Fairmont Police Chief Greg
Brolsma said. "We've got people in other jails."

He estimated 40 percent to 60 percent of people in the 32-bed Martin County
jail are there on meth-related crimes, whether it be for manufacture,
intent to manufacture, possession, child endangerment, driving under the
influence, assault or burglary charges.

Fairmont police also have seen meth overdoses that ended in death and
shootings "related to people consumed by the drug," Brolsma said.

It's not much different in Blue Earth County. Sheriff's deputy Jerry
Billiar said violent assaults and a stabbing over meth have happened there
in the past few years. He said guns and lots of stolen electronics have
been reported, too, so users can trade their stolen stuff for meth.

"Any drug use goes hand in hand with stolen property," he said. "Violent
crime also goes hand in hand with drug use."

Agitation and paranoid behavior caused by meth use is often to blame for
the crimes, Brolsma said, but people keep taking the drug because it's so
addictive.

"In my 18 years of law enforcement, I without a doubt have not seen
anything like this," he said.

Safeguarding supplies

Law enforcement officials across southern Minnesota agree that meth-related
crimes are on the rise and have been for several years. In the first three
months of 2003, 90 percent of drug investigations in Minnesota were
meth-related.

Along with drug investigations and arrests, Le Sueur County Sheriff Dave
Gliszinski has seen an increase in theft of meth-related items, especially
anhydrous ammonia from local fertilizer companies and tools from people's
sheds.

"They don't really care what they rip off," Le Sueur County Sheriff's
investigator Keith Frederick said.

"Or who," Gliszinski added. "Family, friends ... they have to have that
narcotic in their system no matter what."

The amount of anhydrous ammonia people steal from farms and fertilizer
companies is usually minimal in value, but Gliszinski said it's obvious
they're taking such an amount for one reason.

Farmers can better protect their anhydrous ammonia supply from theft by
keeping it away from roads when it's in a field or at their farms when it's
not being used, Billiar said. And co-ops that hold tanks of the fertilizer
should keep it in a gated or well-lit area, he said.

Deborah Durkin of the Minnesota Department of Health isn't so sure even
those techniques will work.

"Fences are climbed and cut," she said. "Lights are routinely shot out and
broken. I wouldn't leave a dog where meth cooks might hurt it."

A watchful eye

People can be arrested on meth-related grounds even if they aren't found
with the drug itself, Le Sueur Police Chief Bruce Kelly said. Getting
caught stealing anhydrous ammonia, for example, would be one of those
situations.

"We have theft-related crimes and violent crimes under investigation that
we suspect methamphetamine has something to do with," he said.

Now area law enforcement agencies are doing what they can to combat meth
manufacturing and curb distribution.

Many agencies have distributed posters to gas stations and grocery stores
telling clerks to keep an eye out for people buying mass quantities of meth
"ingredients" such as cold pills, antifreeze and batteries.

Most meth ingredients are legal in themselves, but Kelly said retailers are
told to keep tabs on people who are buying them.

"If someone's coming in and buying a lot of this stuff, (retailers) should
be aware that they could be using them to manufacture methamphetamine," he
said.

Fairmont police have offered $1,000 rewards through Crime Stoppers for
people with information leading to meth lab busts.

Meth-related crimes in Fairmont were down in 2003, and police have paid out
two partial Crime Stoppers rewards for meth-related arrests. Brolsma
attributes the crime decrease to the rewards and word of mouth among users.

"The whole cost of this drug to society is just phenomenal," he said.
"(Users) are hurting some (people), and they're hurting themselves."