A DIFFERENT KIND OF ADDICTION

They'll Burglarize. They'll Steal. They'll Do Whatever It Takes To
Satisfy Their Cravings For Meth

CHEYENNE - Methamphetamine carries a different level of addiction -
one that drives the vast majority of property crime here, local law
enforcement officials say.

But it wasn't always this way. Looking back 10 to 15 years, when
police responded to individuals under the influence or in possession
of a controlled substance, nine out of 10 times it was marijuana.

Today, that drug is meth, a highly addictive psycho-stimulant that
affects particular parts of the brain.

Ninety percent of a detective's caseload is tied to meth. Most of the
offenses, approximately 80 percent to be exact, are committed by the
same 20 percent of Cheyenne's population.

"It's extremely frustrating," said Detective Rob Dafoe with the
Cheyenne Police Department, who has worked mainly with drug-related
property crimes the past three years. "Meth drives so much crime.
There's so much criminal activity these days that it comes back
directly or indirectly to the drug."

Local peace officers say a spike in drug-related property crime over
the last eight months has prompted them to take more of a proactive
stance in terms of solving the drug epidemic, trying to get them
treatment so they won't re-offend.

So, what are meth addicts stealing and why?

"Do we know meth users are stealing for the further use of meth? Yes,"
Sheriff Danny Glick said.

Particulars include home and vehicle electronics, such as DVDs, VCRs,
jewelry, Nintendo GameBoys, Sony Playstations, Apple iPods and laptop
computers.

It is merchandise meth addicts can take and pawn off for some quick
cash to turn around and get high the same day, police detective Dave
Weese said.

In the case of a home burglary, suspects tend to leave many items of
value behind and filch only things they can get an easy exchange for,
even a straight exchange for more of the drug, he said.

"Anything that's easy to sell, they take," Weese said. "It doesn't
take a lot for them to steal because they're only interested in
getting their next high."

Suspects also use the money to pay off drug debts to their dealers.
Many times, after users are fronted the meth, they are then forced to
find money to relieve the sum they owe, Weese added.

One of the major concerns detectives have right now surrounds
recycling companies and construction zones. Many of the reported
meth-related thefts include the stealing of spools of copper wiring,
piping and scrap metal.

All are items meth users can easily find at construction sites around
town, turn them in to recycling companies and make off with a sizeable
amount of money.

Why recycling facilities?

People who are employed at these facilities are notorious for poor
screening when doing property intake, Dafoe said.

For example, when a person brings in to the recycling agency new
aluminum forms or 10 rolls of copper piping they had potentially
pilfered from a construction site, many times they get away with it.

This happens because it's the recycling company's money too, not only
the suspect who cashes it in.

"They (the companies) are the middle men in the game," Dafoe added.
"They take the product, move it on to a different center on a larger
scale and get paid that way. It's part of the problem we are seeing in
an indirect fashion."

Prices for piping materials are up, and word has gotten around that
such products are easy to steal and harder for law enforcement
agencies to track, said police detective Jim Eddy.

When researching who the property belongs to, most times construction
companies never knew the property was missing in the first place he
said.

That's why items like copper wiring and scrap metal are virtually
untraceable, said Eddy, who, like Dafoe, has concentrated his efforts
over the last few years to cracking down on meth-related property crime.

"It's frustrating because when we ask recycling companies to ask
construction agencies if certain stolen property was theirs, the
answer is usually no."

But Jeff Soden, assistant general manager at Wyoming Salvage Company,
said all law enforcement needs to do is give him a call when there's a
report of missing property and tell him exactly what the property looks like.

When people come in to recycle things, Soden said, employees there ask
for driver's licenses and pay attention to the products they receive.

But without serial numbers on all these different brands and types of
wiring, it's almost impossible to know what to look for, he said.

"We do work closely with law enforcement and try to put a stop to this
stuff," Soden said. "We can't assume everyone is guilty of something,
but we do the best we can with what we've got to go on to prevent it
from happening."

Police Chief Bob Fecht said detectives have been successful through
the years in terms of fighting back against meth-related property
crime. Hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of property has been
recovered, he said.

But as the problem continues to exist, more will need to be done to
make it go away.

"The problem is huge," Fecht said. "We know it will always be a
problem, but we can still make it a point to fight it as hard as we
can."

What needs to be done?

Admission from people who have committed crimes would be ideal, Glick
said, but it rarely works out that way.

Not only does it come down to recycling companies doing a better job
of screening the property they receive, there is a need for a
no-nonsense attitude from the community.

Getting people to quit meth is obviously tough, but letting them know
they aren't wanted in town might help drive them out, Glick said.

"Meth won't go unnoticed if you pay attention," he said. "Lock your
cars and put serial numbers on all your pieces of property."

When someone brings in a $10,000 bundle of high-priced piping, there
shouldn't be a reason that company should even consider accepting it,
Eddy said.

Police say there are plans to perform more "stings" on these recycling
agencies, meaning undercover officers will test a company's screening
process to see if an employee knowingly accepts stolen material.

Because it's normally been an employee who gets busted, Eddy said a
greater effort will be made in the future to cite the employer.

"We've charged a certain individual in the past, but not the
business," he said. "Our goal in future stings is to get the owners."

The next step is getting users to give up the highly-addictive drug.
Police officials say it's hard for people who are meth users to
maintain normal jobs. When high on the drug, a particular user can
stay up for an average of three to five days at a time without any
sleep.

After staying up that amount of time, the person will crash for 24 to
72 hours at a time, sleeping straight through.

Because darkness has proved to be the prime time for meth-related
crimes to exist, officers with midnight shifts will increase
neighborhood patrol.

"When they are up during those hours, they aren't sleeping at all,"
Eddy said. "That's when a lot of property crime happens because they
are awake."

Police also ask that when people take vacations they should properly
lock up their homes or have neighbors watch over the home in case
someone tries to break in.