METH LAB DECONTAMINATION STATION CREATED FOR KIDS

Trailer Includes Children's Shampoo, Clean Clothes, Gifts

BROOMFIELD - Law enforcement officers in the Denver area have come up with
a plan that treats children as children, even when they're evacuated from
homes contaminated by the chemicals of methamphetamine labs.

It's a trailer, with shower stalls, children's shampoo, bright pictures of
animals, gifts and clean clothes, and it's expected to be in service by the
first of the year. The problem has developed as teams such as the North
Metro Drug Task Force raid more and more labs. This year, teams have
uncovered 62 labs, from which 15 children were taken. Last year, they
handled 97 labs. Overall, they say, children are found living in and around
about one-third of the labs uncovered.

"It's been a source of frustration for us that we haven't had an
appropriate way to decontaminate children," said Capt. Rich Randall of the
North Metro Fire District. He recounted standing in a street and scrubbing
down a child taken from a home meth lab 10 years ago. As he worked to wipe
the toxic chemical residue off a 10-year-old boy, the child said, "Today is
my birthday." "That's when I said to myself, 'There's got to be a better
way to do this,' " Randall said.

Chemist Lynn Riemer, of the task force, said that 70 percent of the
children found in meth labs test positive for the drug.