STATEWIDE HOTLINE IN PLACE TO REPORT METH ACTIVITY, SALE

The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation has launched a hotline for citizens
to give tips on suspected methamphetamine labs and sales rings.

The intelligence-gathering system will be spearheaded by the hotline,
1-877-TNN-METH (877-866-6384).

"Efforts similar to MethWatch have proven very effective in other places,"
Tennessee Bureau of Investigation Interim Director David Griswold said in a
press release issued Monday. "The hope is that by taking the initiative
statewide, existing efforts to crackdown on the production of meth can be
augmented."

The TBI will be using the information from the hotline along with
communication with retailers, who can report purchases of large quantities
of items associated with the production of the drug.

The Rutherford County Sheriffs Department Narcotics Division has already
been working with local retailers to identify potential suspects, and Det.
Thomas Bunch said the tips from store employees and owners, combined with
tips called into the narcotics division, can lead to lab busts and arrests.

"I can look at (a) house, I can pull the tags, I can pull the electricity
and find out who lives there," Bunch said.

"Well, it just so happens that the tag number at that house is one of the
tag numbers that one of my stores are giving me.

"So now I've gotta try to get a [confidential informant] to purchase the
methamphetamine," he said, "or do I ... catch him when he's on the road
when he's got all this paraphernalia ... you can be arrested if you have
methamphetamine components."

Bunch said that the problem is growing rapidly in Rutherford County,
reflecting a statewide trend, although he said it is not the near-epidemic
here that it is in more rural areas, such as the Upper Cumberland region of
Tennessee.

"Within the last year, it's risen," Bunch said, "probably two or three fold
worse than what it used to be."

The RCSD has assigned a detective to work full-time on methampetamine cases.

He has undergone training with the Drug Enforcement Agency in Nashville,
and all of the narcotics officers have taken classes on methamphetamine
production and how to identify and investigate a potential manufacturing lab.

Also as part of the statewide program, posters and signs identifying
products used in the production of methampetamine will be posted in stores
that sell the products.

The drug is relatively cheap to produce and is made from common items such
as matches, cold medicine, household cleaners and lithium batteries.

The hotline is open now and will be available 24 hours.