Meth class bring more training, equipment to the table in White County war on drugs

BY DALE ELLIS    7 Jul 2002

Managing Editor

White County now has another tool in the ongoing battle to control methamphetamine production in the county. Actually, three more tools, in the persons of Sheriff Pat Garrett and Sergeant Greg Williams of the White County Sheriff's Department and Britt Simpson of the Beebe Police Department.

The three men recently completed a course at the Arkansas State Police headquarters in Little Rock that was put on by the Drug Enforcement Administration and intended to teach smaller law enforcement agencies to deal with and process clandestine methamphetamine labs.

The 40-hour class, sponsored by the Arkansas State Police and presented by Ecology & Environment, Inc. out of Overland Park, Kansas, was paid for by a grant from the DEA in conjunction with the Environmental Protection Agency. It covered such topics as methamphetamine manufacturing, the hazards involved, how to spot lab components, and how to determine what stage of the manufacturing process has been reached at any given lab.

"This was a tough course," Garrett said. "It was probably as intense as any law enforcement course I've ever been involved in."

Williams concurred. "There was a lot of information to take in," he said, "much of it having to do with the threat of fire and contamination because of the chemical mixtures that are used in the manufacture of methamphetamine. It scares me to death to know that in 1999 and 2000, I walked into that type of environment on patrol and pulled people out. I've gone into houses before and had to hold my breath to go in and arrest people."

Much of the threat has to do with the mixtures of chemicals and the toxic fumes that are emitted as the chemicals interact with one another. Common by-products of some of those chemicals, including ammonia and ether, are phosphene gas vapors, sulfuric acid and hydrochloric acid vapors, all of which are deadly poisons.

Federal regulations by OSHA and the EPA require specific handling methods for the hazardous chemicals found in methamphetamine labs.

Part of those regulations include requirement for personal protective gear, such as a self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA), protective gloves, coveralls, and shoe coverings. All of that gear, approximately $4,000 worth of equipment, was also provided to each person in the course and paid for out of the grant, Garrett said.

The SCBA is required because of the various chemical mixtures and the toxic vapors they emit, and other protective gear is intended to prevent chemical injury to exposed parts of the body. When fully suited up, officers wear a white, rubberized paper oversuit equipped with a hood, two layers of rubber gloves, rubber boots, and a full-face mask attached to the SCBA.

All three officers are now certified to clear items found in a methamphetamine lab into a central location with ventilation, and to take and package samples.

"We're not certified to transport or store the chemicals," Garrett said, "but we can now stabilize the scene for the DEA."

Because of the hazardous nature of so many of the chemicals involved, cleanup cost often reach, and even exceed $2,500 per lab. The chemicals must be handled carefully both because of their volatility and because of the destructive effect they have been shown to have on vital organs and tissues in the human body.

"I was told at the course that the effect of these chemicals is cumulative," Garrett said. "They told me that means that once I have absorbed the maximum level of chemical contamination that I am genetically predisposed to tolerate, if I exceed that level, I'll die. That goes for anyone who is exposed to these labs."

A very serious medical concern, he said, is the people involved in clandestine methamphetamine manufacturing, who are exposed to the dangerous chemicals often and who do not have any type of personal protective gear. According to information given at the course, such people are little more than ticking genetic time bombs, subject to experience serious health risks associated with exposure to such chemicals.

One thing that surprised Garrett and Williams during the training was the information concerning just how dangerous the labs they deal with really are.

"They are a very dangerous environment to work in, both for the crooks and the cops," Williams said. "It is a very flammable and poisonous atmosphere. It's a wonder we haven't had a lot of labs blow up considering what they do in the manufacturing process."

For example, Garrett said, one part of the process involves the use of the chemical ether, commonly found in starting fluid for diesel and gasoline engines. When the solution containing the methamphetamine is put into the ether, which is highly flammable, the ether is then evaporated through the use of a heat source, leaving behind the methamphetamine.

"We found out that one quart of ether has the explosive power of five or six sticks of dynamite," he said. "It is not at all uncommon to find four or five gallons of ether out in an open container at a lab. That would leave a pretty good sized hole in the ground if it ever went up."

Beebe police actually discovered a methamphetamine lab in Beebe earlier this year when a lab exploded inside a home. When police and fire department personnel arrived on the scene, they discovered that the explosion was caused by a suspected clandestine methamphetamine lab that blew up while methamphetamine was being made.

Garrett said that much information is now available concerning the hazards associated with methamphetamine labs, but the training has only recently become available for smaller departments. The lab certification of the three officers brings to nine the number of police in White County that are trained and certified at this level; three with the White County Sheriff's Department, three with the Central Arkansas Drug Task Force, one with the Arkansas State Police, and two with the Beebe Police Department.

In addition, a Beebe police officer, Philip Hydron, has been deputized at the federal level, allowing him to work outside of his normal jurisdiction, Beebe Police Chief Jess Odom said. He said the training has been very helpful to his department, allowing his officers to take some action at the site of a methamphetamine lab as opposed to merely sitting on the scene and waiting for help.

"It's a lot safer now too," Odom said. "Whenever anyone, my officers, the DTF, or whoever, kicks in a door, they don't know what they are facing. When someone is there who is at least trained to know how to shut everything down so that it is not so volatile, it makes it a lot safer for all of our officers."

He praised the effort to educate officers from smaller departments as a measure that will help marshal each department's resources more effectively.

"It's a dandy school," he said. "I'm glad the feds and the state got together and offered it. I thought it was so far down the road that small communities like Beebe would never see it. But it's here and I'm proud of it. Before, you had to be assigned to a federal agency to get this and most of the time the federal agency was the one that had to take the lab down."

Although Arkansas is commonly perceived to be the number one methamphetamine producer in the nation, figures supplied by the National Clandestine Laboratory Database for the year 2001, show that, while methamphetamine production was significant in the state, it ranks far down the list compared to several others.

Arkansas reported 310 methamphetamine labs taken out of action in 2001, while Missouri reported a total of 1,735, the national record. By comparison, Oklahoma reported 578 labs, Texas reported 538, Tennessee reported 458, and Louisiana reported only 14.

However, the way the statistics are gathered can be somewhat misleading, mainly because they are arrived at by totaling the number of methamphetamine labs that are reported by law enforcement. Because different law enforcement agencies have different capabilities and different levels of funding, the number of methamphetamine labs found by officers seldom reflects the true scope of the problem.

"When methamphetamine first started," Odom said, "and I think because we had the manpower, we got out and started working it hard was why they labeled Arkansas number one and White County number one. Needless to say, these people didn't come up with these figures by calling up the manufacturers. They got it by looking at the number we had taken down. If we hadn't done anything, we might have been listed as number 75 in the state."

Since January of 2001, Garrett said that statistics kept at the sheriff's department show that a total of 101 methamphetamine labs have been raided by the sheriff's department, state police, drug task force, or other agencies.

"This is a combined effort," he said. "The problem is so big that no one agency can get in there and fix it. It takes everyone doing their part. This class gives us that much more of an edge in that we now have two more people who are educated to go into a lab, identify the threat level, and do something about it."

Garrett said that he intends to send two more officers, Detective Fred Cheek and Patrol Sergeant Wendy Landis through the school as soon as two more openings are available in the class.