 | Now: 63°F | Low: 51° High: 66° |
Meth arrests this year are expected to reach a new high, Spiers said. And they’re setting other records.
“Historically, the greatest number of felony drug arrests is for cocaine,” Spiers said. “This year it will be meth.”
Jackson County has had 197 cocaine arrests this year. Eighty-four of those came from an intense drug sting.
By the end of October, the county had 174 meth arrests.
But to reveal the stats that spurred Spiers’ prediction, in October there were six cocaine arrests — and 32 arrests for methamphetamine.
In Harrison County, meth passed cocaine last year.
Lt. Troy Peterson, head of the Narcotics Division of the Sheriff’s Office, said although the shake-and-bake method has been around for awhile, it’s now catching on.
“Like any trend, they don’t know how to do it until they’re taught,” Peterson said. “One person teaches another, and it catches on like wildfire.”
Harrison County has made 256 meth arrests so far this year compared with about 100 for cocaine, he said.
Peterson’s division is seeing none of the old method of producing meth, because “it takes too much Sudafed,” he said.
The odor
Jackson County Sheriff Mike Byrd held his first major meth-lab raid in April 2001.
That one led to federal involvement, crossed five states and had 41 defendants.
But deputies had been exposed to the fumes of meth labs before that, not knowing what they’d walked into.
Byrd still recalls the odor of ammonia and chemicals.
“A real pungent smell,” Byrd said. “Took your breath away.”
Agents began busting what they called Nazi labs because the reduction method of creating meth was invented by a German chemist.
When that process hit the scene, law enforcement started seeing break-ins at ice houses and on fishing boats for a type of ammonia needed.
That process had seven to nine steps, was bulky and smelly and used tubing, open containers, stirring spoons and mixing bowls.
Then meth cooks discovered another way to get ammonia — from fertilizer.
Because the ingredients were volatile, law enforcement in 2003 and 2004 saw a proliferation of explosions.
Then the shake-and-bake method arrived.
“It’s as dangerous or more dangerous,” Spiers said. “You’re mixing it all as one, in one container, the same ingredients that go into making bombs.”
New methods mean updates and training for officers, Byrd said.
“We get bulletins on it all the time,” he said. “Plus Homeland Security sends me e-mails every day. When new things come in, I send members of the Task Force and they come back and educate the patrolmen.”
Byrd and Spiers said federal grants for training, education, equipment and cleanup are crucial to the fight against meth. Jackson County will get $400,000 this year, Byrd said, and it’s all needed.
But staying on top of meth requires the eyes and ears of neighbors.
“The public is our main source on anything,” Peterson said. “We rely on the public to let us know things they see that are different in their community. They call and let us know.
“And there’s good old-fashioned police work,” he said, “beating the streets and finding out who’s doing what.”
E-Mail
Print
@Nyx.replyAnswerText@