'CAMP' RIPS AND PULLS; SHERIFFS ARREST GROWERS, TOO

Editor:

A gentleman has written three letters within the last few months that
attack the Tehama County Sheriff's Department marijuana eradication
program.

This gentleman, like any other good citizen, states he does not
approve of the use of marijuana. However, after reading his letters, I
believe he is a little confused on just how the marijuana eradication
is accomplished and the reasons it is so important.

CAMP, or Campaign Against Marijuana Planting, is a state-sponsored
program. There are five teams made up of a group of officers who are
selected from many different agencies throughout California.

The officers are assigned to the program for 60 days. Their function
is to pull as many marijuana plants as possible in the two month
period. They are not employed to do surveillance work or conduct
criminal investigations. Their main function is to pull plants, period.

There are five teams, two of which are permanently stationed in the
northern coastal area referred to as "The Emerald Triangle." The
remaining three teams service the remaining 55 counties. They are
referred to as the Rip and Pull, as they are very busy moving from
county to county and have to be scheduled weeks in advance.

I have worked for three Tehama County sheriffs. Their philosophy was
that people who grow marijuana should be apprehended, tried and
convicted for felony cultivation.

The past sheriffs felt that when people grow marijuana, which is an
illegal substance, on public lands, they are endangering the
recreational use of the land or forest. People who stumble into
marijuana gardens have faced guns, boobie traps, and the list goes on
and on.

As we have seen in the papers, people who have been found in gardens
have been armed with firearms. Some have gone so far as to have stand-
offs with their weapons with identifiable law enforcement officers who
were conducting the raid.

How many fishermen, hikers and hunters have been frightened away by
armed marijuana garden people? There are cases when people who
stumbled into gardens were murdered, all for the sake of the dollar.

I feel it is law enforcement's job to rid the public lands and forest
of people who make the lands, which are supported by public funds or
tax dollars, safe for everyones use and enjoyment. How many times can
you tell a trespasser not to come back, finally you arrest him or her
and then he or she does not come back again.

How are growers caught? First you take a group of elite officers,
partner them up with Forest Service agents, don them in camouflage,
provide them with special equipment, take a whole lot of time
planning, hope that no one will get shot, then into the forest or
public lands they go.

The whole idea is to capture the garden people without anyone getting
hurt. Once the garden people are in custody, evidence is collected,
the Sheriff's Department phones CAMP. If they are available, they will
respond and help with the eradication. One must remember CAMP, because
of their 60 days or two month operations, they are very busy and
cannot stand around waiting for the Tehama County Sheriff's Department
to phone them.

Who pays for this? The Forest Service and BLM provide monies to the
sheriff's department in a co-op agreement to enforce drug laws on
public lands.

Where do marijuana proceeds go? It has been found, by investigation, a
large amount of the commercial marijuana garden proceeds are directed
back into illegal methamphetamine labs and methamphetamine
distribution organizations.

The sheriff, by law, is directed to investigate illegal drug
production whether it be on private or public lands.

Earl Richter

Retired Deputy Sheriff of Tehama County