NARCOTICS OFFICERS PREPARE FOR 'BIO' WEAPONS

HOPKINSVILLE -- It's not just about meth anymore. Narcotics officers and
other law-enforcement personnel from western Kentucky who are trained to
handle methamphetamine labs spent three days in Hopkinsville this week
taking that education to another level.

The Drug Enforcement Administration, the Pennyrile Narcotics Task Force and
the U.S. Attorney's Office sponsored the seminar to certify officers to
deal with scenes involving weapons of mass destruction -- including anthrax
and small pox.

Henderson Police Sgt. David Piller and Officer Terry McKibben attended the
sessions.

"The primary reason for this (seminar) was concern for local law
enforcement responding to a (bio-hazard) scene," said Cheyenne Albro,
director of the Pennyrile Narcotics Task Force. "They're in situations
where they have little resources to handle the scene. This is something
that's been dumped on law enforcement."

"Weapons of mass destruction and meth labs fall along the same lines,"
Piller said, adding that the equipment used to handle meth labs is
basically the same utilized with other biological agents.

Therefore, taking officers already certified to deal with meth labs and
training them to handle situations involving anthrax, small pox and other
biological weapons wasn't too great a stretch, Piller said.

"They've gone from being narcs to biologists and chemists," Albro said.

Research conducted by the U.S. Attorney's Office of western Kentucky
indicates that "this area is the only one to have this type of training" in
the country, Albro said.

However, the seminar was already in the works before the Sept. 11 terrorist
attacks, he said.

"We had discussions about doing this before Sept. 11, because of our
proximity to Fort Campbell," he said. "After Sept. 11, it went into high gear."

The group plans to hold two or three more of these training classes.

Narcotics officers have apparently been fighting their own battle with
terrorists for some time, Albro said.

"All the heroin in the world is grown in three regions," he said. "The
primary producers are Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan. The U.S. is the
primary consumer of heroin (in the world)."

Albro said research shows the majority of money made from heroin sales is
turned back into funding terrorism.

"We're financing the war against ourselves," he said. But, Albro added, if
during this current war on terrorism the U.S. also destroys areas of heroin
production "it would have a dramatic effect" on the drug trade.

During the three-day seminar in Hopkinsville, officers were instructed in
the areas of safety equipment, decontamination, what biological weapons
look like, why they are used and what to look for while investigating a scene.

Courses were taught by instructors including Greg Anderson of
American-Enviro Services from Newburgh, Ind., and officials from the Fort
Campbell Fire Department.

After two days of mostly classroom discussions, officers were asked to put
their knowledge to good use in a scenario involving a suspected anthrax
letter that had been delivered to an office building.

Four people were with the letter and one of them believed they had gotten
white powder on them.

Officers were divided into four groups: the victims, first responders, site
response team and the decontamination team.

Each group developed basic standard operating procedures in how to handle
the situation.

"These scenarios give them a chance to run through from start to finish,"
said Greg Anderson. "Officers see the pitfalls and mistakes. This is the
time and place to do this and not during an actual event."

Piller said in his opinion, the threat of biological agents being used as
weapons in this area isn't a great one.

"The likelihood of it happening here is small," he said. "But it's better
to be safe than sorry. You learn what to do so at least you're prepared for it."