Franklin County's anti-meth efforts to go statewide

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Law enforcement agencies don't often get calls from the public about suspicious activities surrounding methamphetamine because, they say, people often don't know what to watch for.

But Missouri Sheriffs' Association executive director James Vermeersch hopes that will change under a program that started in Franklin County and soon could expand statewide.

And if retail clerks notice customers regularly stocking up on the products that go into making meth, they're encouraged to call police and give them customers' names, addresses, vehicle license plate numbers and physical descriptions.

As it is, "the citizen doesn't know" much about methamphetamine and "the clerk behind the counter hasn't been educated that this activity would be suspicious," Vermeersch said.

For two straight years, Missouri has led the nation in the number of meth lab raids.

Last year, more than one out of every six meth labs in the country were found in Missouri, federal and state figures showed. That's a roughly 28 percent increase over 2001 numbers and widens the gap between Missouri and the rest of the nation.

U.S. Rep. Kenny Hulshof and law enforcement in Franklin County met in February about the meth problem, and that meeting led Hulshof to include $300,000 in a federal spending bill to expand the county program to the rest of the state. The bill already has passed the House and awaits final approval by the U.S. Senate next month.

The Franklin County sheriff's office started the program about a year ago.

Pete Buxton, manager of the Dickey Bud Farm and Home store in Union, said the program has increased employees' knowledge of their merchandise and possibly scared off some who planned to buy or steal ingredients to make methamphetamine.

The effort is the latest example of ways authorities are trying to stop the drug's spread. A new state law restricts the sale of some common cold products. Along with anti-theft measures, the law limits shoppers to buying two packages, or 6 grams, of pseudoephedrine at one time.

Pseudoephedrine is the active ingredient in many over-the-counter decongestants.

Already, Franklin County has seen a drop in the number of meth labs, and Cpl. Jason Grellner, who developed the CHEM program for the sheriff's office, credits the education effort.

Statewide, last year saw 2,743 lab investigations, and Capt. Ron Replogle, director of the State Highway Patrol's Division of Drug and Crime Control, said that number could climb this year to nearly 3,000.

Jasper County in southwest Missouri led the state with 178 meth raids and seizures last year. Franklin County ranked second with 152, up from 67 in 2001, and Jefferson County was third with 148.

This year, Franklin County's count should drop to 100 to 115, Grellner said.

"The success they've seen in Franklin County is what we want to see statewide," Replogle said.

Grellner said officers don't want clerks or store owners to act like citizen cops, but rather to be eyes and ears for law enforcement, and leave the investigating to them.

"We're not asking retailers in any way to be a vigilante force," he said. "All we're looking for is information they have."

Hulshof, R-Mo., called the program an innovative approach to combating the problem.

Replogle, Grellner and representatives from law enforcement and retailers groups met last week in Jefferson City to figure out how best to use that federal money, and they also will seek private funds.

Grellner said ideas include creating a video for law enforcement to use to educate retailers about the concepts, along with CDs or pamphlets of information to share with the public about meth.

"We just figured that since we know how to do it and bad guys know how to do it, everybody knows how to do it," he said.

If the program works across Missouri, Hulshof said he could suggest it elsewhere.

"We focus sometimes with blinders that this is a law enforcement issue. No, really this is a societal problem," he said. "If we can keep making progress here in the state of Missouri, then I can see this being taken to other states that have a similar challenge with methamphetamine."