MISSOURI SECURITY CHECKPOINTS SET UP

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. =AD Security checkpoints at state office buildings
have done more than protect against possible terrorist attacks =AD they
have turned up illegal drugs.

Since installing metal detectors and establishing pat downs of
visitors and package searches in mid-October, police have arrested 19
people for trying to bring drugs into state buildings.

"We were surprised that we were seeing this stuff turn up," said
Capitol Police Chief Lou Tedeschi. "The illegal drugs is just a side
issue to our main focus, which is preventing weapons and explosive
devices from getting into the building."

Officers made 15 arrests, including one for cocaine and others for
marijuana and drug paraphernalia, at the Truman State Office Building
across from the Capitol, Tedeschi said.

None of the arrests involved state employees.

Another four arrests were made at government buildings around the
state, said Mark Allen, who oversees state buildings security outside
of the capital city.

"It's not like this just dawned on us after September 11," Allen said.
"Until you do something like this, you don't know what's coming into
your facilities."

The drug arrests in Missouri may be an anomaly based on reports from
neighboring states.

Arkansas Capitol Police Chief James Vandiver said people may know not
to try to sneak contraband into buildings since there was plenty of
publicity when their metal detectors were installed.

Tighter security at the nation's borders has also yielded promising
results. The U.S. Customs Service seized 86,603 pounds of marijuana,
cocaine and heroin in West Texas and New Mexico from October through
December =AD an amount about 12 percent ahead of last year's pace.

Gordon Johndroe, a spokesman in the office of Homeland Security
Director Tom Ridge said that, according to his boss, arrests made as a
result of tighter security whether at the borders or at state
buildings "not only make our country stronger but also make it better."