CARSON INKS LAW TO FIGHT RURAL LABS

Rural areas around Shawnee could benefit from legislation introduced by
U.S. Rep. Brad Carson, D-Oklahoma, to help cope with the escalating
national methamphetamine epidemic.

The Rural Safety and Law Enforcement Improvement Act introduced Friday by
the District 2 congressman would provide grants to law enforcement agencies
to hire, train and retain officers and to acquire technology and equipment.

"(Dealing with meth labs is) too important to eastern Oklahoma as well as
many other rural areas," said Karen Campbell, Carson's legislative director
Wednesday.

The bill would expand the Methamphetamine Hot Spots Program to include
personnel and equipment for enforcement, prosecution and environmental
cleanup. It would provide additional training and equipment for the
Community Oriented Policing Services or COPS Program.

It would set aside 10 percent of the grant funding for tribal law enforcement.

"The situation is only getting worse," Carson said in a recently released
statement. "Every sheriff I have spoken with since taking office has told
me the overwhelming majority of everyone in his or her jail are there for a
drug-related crime."

He said responding to a meth lab call increases the dangers of law
enforcement jobs exponentially.

"Oftentimes the labs are booby-trapped with bombs, grenades or other traps.
The labs are filled with toxic gas, and are highly unstable and explosive.
In Oklahoma and across rural America, law enforcement often lacks the
necessary and federally required protective equipment to bust a meth lab,"
Carson said.

And add those problems to the toxic waste from meth production leeching
into the ground water, causing environmental problems. Carson cited numbers
that five pounds of toxic waste are produced for every one pound of meth.

The legislation will also assist rural communities in developing 911
services. Communities would be qualified for the program using census data.

Campbell said because the legislation was introduced relatively late in the
legislative year that it might not make it to the floor. Congress is in
August recess, and the bill will be considered in committee in September.

"Since we've introduced it late in the legislative year, our intent is to
gain a lot of support," she said. "It's a slow-moving process. But you have
to start somewhere. If we don't get to take it all the way, we will
introduce it again."

Carson sponsored the bill along with Congressman Brian Baird, D-Washington;
Congressman Jim Matheson, D-Utah; and Congressman Jerry Moran, R-Kansas.