Fighting Back: The Meth Epidemic ( Part 1 of 4 )

TRAFFICKING ARRESTS OFTEN FOLLOW WEEKS OF WORK

From behind the tinted windows of an idling vehicle, three undercover city police officers waited patiently along an east Owensboro street, occasionally using binoculars to watch a home one block away.

Upon first glance the home in the 1600 block of Hall Street appeared to be a popular gathering spot.  It was almost sunset on a Friday, and several men and women lounged in the small yard or swung their legs over the edge of a porch.  A young boy wearing one sandal screeched with joy while playing with two stray dogs.

For police, however, the reason behind the home's popularity was no secret: methamphetamine for sale.

Police had an arrest warrant for the home's resident on a felony meth trafficking charge.  Before making the arrest they conducted surveillance and called for a marked police cruiser to stop at least one vehicle seen leaving the home.  That stop resulted in one of the car's occupants being charged with a drug-related violation.

The home is similar to dozens of other houses in Daviess and surrounding counties that have helped spawn what often seems to be western Kentucky's fastest-growing business, the making and selling of meth.  Since police found the county's first meth lab in 1998, the presence of meth and crime reports involving ingredients have skyrocketed.

A typical crack cocaine addict will resort to small thefts and other crimes to fund a habit, said Sgt.  Brock Peterson of the street crimes unit.  To fund a meth addiction, a user will begin making the drug, often selling just enough of the finished product to cover the costs of ingredients, he said.

Owensboro Police Department Officers Scott Norris, right, and Randy Boling, both working undercover with the street crimes unit, check out items possibly containing drugs that were removed from a house in the 1600 block of Hall Street on May 21.  The officers used a field test kit at the scene, which gave them preliminary results that determined the presence of methamphetamine.  Photo by Jenny Sevcik, M-I

"That's where you see cooks popping up everywhere," Peterson said.  "Meth is just a totally different ballgame."

Since 1998, Daviess County law enforcement authorities have found almost 350 meth labs at some stage of production.  Despite the telltale fumes emitted by the ether and ammonia, many of the labs continue to be found in crowded city suburbs.  Often the labs operate in the same home with small children.

The Owensboro Police Department dismantled 46 meth labs in 2003 and have recorded at least 13 so far this year, Peterson said.

After conducting surveillance on the Hall Street home, two carloads of officers from the city police street crimes unit raided the home, questioned the friends, arrested the resident on felony drug charges and seized items from the home.

In the hour that police were at the home, about five vehicles arrived to visit the home's resident.  The vehicle occupants were apparently unaware that many of the men in the yard were undercover police.

A lab was not found, but from the home and the resident police seized a roll of $20 bills, meth, a small amount of marijuana, digital scales and a gun.  Several pill capsules had been emptied and filled with meth for a convenient resale package.

The arrest of the resident stemmed from a March undercover buy from a confidential informant, Peterson said.  Police use a variety of methods to turn one narcotics arrest into several.

Gathering information

A person arrested is always interviewed about where their drugs come from, Peterson said.  Sometimes, they may be offered a deal in their criminal case if they agree to work with police and make a drug purchase from another dealer.

A narcotics investigation is very different from other criminal cases because of the amount of preliminary surveillance and investigation, Daviess County Sheriff's Department Lt.  Jeff Jones said.  Unless someone is caught in the act of making or possessing meth, a criminal case may take weeks or months.

"I can understand how the public may become frustrated when they call in and may not see an arrest in the paper the next day," Jones said.

Concerns from the public that not enough is being done is a complaint that all police are familiar with.

Both city police and sheriff's investigators deal with an abundance of tips about suspected drug activity.  Even with more tips about drug activity than police can immediately respond to, police encourage people to keep the information coming.

"That's how we in law enforcement determine where a problem might be and how we need to devote our resources, too," Jones said.