Copyright: McAlester News-Capital & Democrat 2002
Website: http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?brd=1126
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1892
Author: Doug Russell
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)

CLERKS ON THE FRONTLINE IN LOCAL DRUG WAR

Store employees can help police cut down on the amount of crime in an area
simply by being alert and letting police know of suspicious activity,
according to law enforcement officials.

Much of the crime in any given area can be directly associated with the
production and use of methamphetamine, officials said.

Mark Woodward, a spokesman for the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and
Dangerous Drug Control, said, "Most of your burglaries are committed so
someone can get money to buy drugs or the things they need to make drugs."

Methamphetamine has been called the poor man's cocaine because it is a
highly addictive stimulant that produces a euphoria similar to cocaine, but
lasts longer - six to eight hours compared to 20 to 60 minutes for cocaine.

George Scott, assistant McAlester police chief, said, "There's no doubt in
my mind there's a direct correlation." For example, Scott said, McAlester
had a decrease in property crimes between 1983 and 1994, then began to see
a rise.

"If you'll look, you'll find that the number of clandestine meth labs rose
at the same time," he said. "And those numbers are only for the labs that
got busted, not the number of labs in operation.

"I have no doubt that the increase in the numbers of burglaries and other
crimes are directly related to the increase in drug use."

A spokesman for the joint McAlester Police/Pittsburg County Narcotics
Enforcement Unit pointed to a table on which lay a number of packets
containing suspected methamphetamine. "That's where it goes," he said.
"That's somebody's VCR, television and engagement ring.

"If there weren't any drugs, there'd be a lot less crime. There'd be fewer
burglaries, robberies - everything.

"Store owners and the people that work for them can help by just letting us
know when people buy certain items."

Some businesses are trying to help, he pointed out.

In one recent case, personnel from one McAlester store called the police
department when a man bought the store's entire stock of starter fluid.
Officers watching the store before the man left observed him leaving the
two cases of starting fluid in the parking lot when he spotted a police car
that had been sent to the store on an unrelated matter.

Just the fact he had bought so much starting fluid was enough to raise
suspicions, the narcotics officer said, adding police later pulled the
man's vehicle over for a traffic violation and found what they believed to
be a mobile methamphetamine lab.

"If people would just call us, that would be a big help," the officer said.
"We can't always get there right away, but sometimes we can.

"Those times can make a difference."

Police are seeing an increasing number of accused shoplifters who allegedly
steal cold medicine used to make methamphetamine, the officer said, as well
as an increase in the number of sales of drain cleaner or other items used
in the drug's manufacture.

"If someone goes into a store and buys a whole gallon of iodine, that
should set off an alarm in someone's head," he said. "You wouldn't use a
gallon of iodine in a year, or two or three years for that matter. "But
some of the dope cooks use that much in a month."

Most of the items used to make methamphetamine are common household items,
he said, adding "It's not so much what people buy, but how much they buy
that could be an alarm." For instance, he said, in one case a woman bought
several hundred pounds of kitty litter each week. Personnel from a store
got suspicious and contacted police, who found she was using the litter to
filter out the smell of a methamphetamine laboratory.

"If we know about it, we can try to stop it," the officer said. "If people
pick up the phone and call, we might just bust a lab. And that can cut down
on the number of burglaries or other crimes."