SOCIAL WORKERS TO WEAR VESTS, PROTECTIVE GEAR

MONTGOMERY (AP) - The Alabama Department of Human Resources will start
outfitting some Alabama social workers with bulletproof vests and
other protective gear, in large part because of a rising number of
encounters with makers and users of crystal methamphetamine.

Reports of child abuse and neglect are increasingly linked with the
use of the dangerous drug, which is a powerful stimulant, DHR
Commissioner Bill Fuller said.

"Our young men and women who are child welfare case workers find
themselves thrust into a very dangerous, very risky situation in a
growing number of cases" when they visit homes where parents make the
drug, Fuller told The Montgomery Advertiser. "We believe there is a
new and urgent need for safety equipment."

Cost estimates for the equipment range between $100,000 and
$200,000.

Some of the department's 1,400 child welfare social workers will also
be trained by the Alabama Bureau of Investigation in handling
confrontations with crystal meth producers and other drug users,
Fuller said.

No child welfare workers have been injured yet, Fuller
said.

Meth users dangerous

Authorities say crystal meth users are so dangerous because they feel
"10 feet tall and bulletproof."

But Angie Flowers, a child welfare investigator in Autauga County,
said parents who use other drugs pose equal threats because of the
charged atmosphere surrounding a visit from DHR.

"You're going in the home and talking about the possibility of their
children being removed from them; it's a dangerous situation," Flowers
said.

Flowers said the Autauga County DHR is usually accompanied by local police
and sheriffs' departments on home visits that could be dangerous.