POLICE TRY NEW TACK AGAINST DRUG

When Pat Slack talks about Snohomish County's struggles with
methamphetamine, the longtime police officer spins a tale that could fit
into the back of a Chevy minivan.

It happened early one Saturday in February. Officers spotted a minivan south
of Everett. When they tried to stop the driver, he punched the gas and
bulled past patrol cars onto I-5. The chase lasted nearly 30 miles, ending
in King County.

When police looked in the van, they understood why. Inside were the makings
of a meth lab.

Finding a mobile meth lab in a minivan sums up a lot about how the drug has
taken root in this community, said Slack, commander of the Snohomish County
Regional Drug Task Force.

Meth is popular, easily cooked in clandestine labs, and is cropping up in
surprising places, he said.

"The more work we do, the more we chase stuff around."

Slack has been pushing for changes in the way the county fights illegal
drugs. One of his ideas would cost about $1 million a year and add a strike
force of eight detectives to the drug task force. The new detectives'
mission would be targeting drug houses and low-level dealers - the people
the task force now often jumps past in the hunt for bigger crooks.

Sheriff Rick Bart pitched the strike force idea last week at the county's
first meeting of its new Law and Justice Cabinet. He said meth problems
often can be traced to a small number of suspects who know how to exploit
gaps in the legal system.

"If we can attack them and make it very uncomfortable for them in our
county, we can make a dent," Bart said.

County Councilman Jeff Sax supports the idea. He has asked county officials
to explore whether money for a strike force could come from a proposed tax
increase for jail operations.

People who packed a meeting in Granite Falls earlier this year want the
county to crack down on meth dealers, Sax said.

"That's what the public is asking us to do. Right now," Sax said. "One
thousand people in Granite Falls is a big statement."

Marty Robinett is an Everett developer and attorney who believes the
community needs to do more to confront drug problems than simply talk about
solutions.

"I want the elected officials to come together and come up with a plan, and
let the voters decide on whether they are willing to spend their money on
implementing it or not," he said.

Slack also has been pushing a tactic in which drug treatment and drug abuse
prevention would receive as much emphasis as chasing dealers. The plan would
be paid for by a tax increase that preliminary estimates show could add
about $60 in property taxes a year on a $200,000 home.

For roughly $13.5 million in start-up costs and about $9.5 million a year,
the drug task force would grow to the size of a midsized police department.
The plan would not only add more police, but more prosecutors as well. The
cases would largely be headed to expanded drug courts, where defendants
could be ordered into a strictly supervised treatment program instead of
jail.

Slack's plan also includes money for more drug counselors in the schools and
for mental health experts. The hope is to catch people before they are
absorbed into the drug lifestyle and contribute to crime, Slack said.

Meth investigations are a growing part of the workload for the drug task
force. In 1998, the group was involved in 36 meth-related investigations. In
2002, there were roughly 160.

But Snohomish County is far from the meth capital of the state.

Last year, the state Department of Ecology responded to 83 lab incidents
here, compared with 438 in Pierce County and 241 in King County. The county
tied for sixth in the number of meth-lab cleanups.

Preliminary results of a survey of inmates at the county jail in Everett
show that 25 percent admitted using meth within the previous 12 months, said
Susan Neely, an executive director for County Executive Bob Drewel. That's a
rate comparable with what officials have seen in Seattle, but less than
Spokane's.

"Is it serious? Yes," Neely said. "Does it need to be the only focus? I
don't think so."