MISSOURI NEEDS UNIFORM CRIME REPORTING SYSTEM

There is little doubt that methamphetamine, the easy-to-make and highly addictive drug, continues to be a serious problem throughout Missouri. Not only does meth endanger the lives of those who use it and those around them, but homemade labs used to produce meth also pose health and safety hazards.

Federal grants are available for the anti-meth efforts of law enforcement, but Missouri is losing many of these dollars from Washington because it doesn't have accurate, up-to-date statistics about meth activity. As the Southeast Missouri learned two years ago in its months-long investigation of meth in our area, officers in one part of the state don't have a good accounting of what's happening elsewhere in the state. As a result, meth crimes are widely undercounted for statewide statistical purposes.

When Jim Talent, Republican candidate for governor, was here last week, he cited the need for a statewide uniform crime reporting system as the backbone of anti-meth efforts. While Talent focused on meth, his idea reaches far beyond the manufacture, sale and use of one illegal drug.

Missouri is one of two states (Mississippi is the other one) that doesn't have a uniform crime reporting system. Some law-enforcement agencies routinely provide detailed statistics to state and federal agencies, while others give out partial report -- or no reports at all.

Even statistics on other serious crimes such as murder, rape and assault are not routinely shared by every law-enforcement agency in the state. It is easy to imagine how vital such data are when investigating criminal activity in a particular area.

Legislation in the Missouri Legislature to create a uniform crime reporting system appears to be stalled for this session, which is only days away from adjournment.

Should Talent move into the governor's office next January, he has vowed to make uniform crime reporting a reality for Missouri. Such a system is desperately needed. Police departments and sheriff's departments in Southeast Missouri have been urging uniform reporting for a long time.

Questions about funding, training and mandatory reporting for a system that would probably be managed by the Missouri State Highway Patrol can be addressed in legislation creating the system. By the time the Legislature convenes next year, these details should be resolved so quick action can be taken to send the bill to the governor to be signed.