Pubdate: Mon, 03 Jun 2002
Source: Messenger-Inquirer (KY)
Copyright: 2002 Messenger-Inquirer
Contact:  http://www.messenger-inquirer.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1285
Author: Justin Willis
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)

GUARDSMEN HELP COUNTY BATTLE METH

Troops Help With Surveillance

Ever since methamphetamine began to exhibit signs of an epidemic in western 
Kentucky in the late 1990s, the Daviess County Sheriff's Department has 
taken an aggressive stance against the proliferation.

A prime tool in the county's fight against meth during the past three years 
has been cooperation with specially trained Kentucky National Guardsmen, 
according to Daviess County Sheriff Keith Cain.

The full-time guardsmen are part of the Joint Support Operations unit, 
which commonly assists law enforcement authorities in wiping out marijuana 
patches in eastern Kentucky.

The guardsmen provide the sheriff's department with manpower and equipment 
to assist in the surveillance of suspected meth labs or anhydrous ammonia 
tanks.

"We have a very close working relationship with the National Guard," Cain 
said. "They have been a tremendous help to us. We certainly would not be 
able to man the surveillances that we have without their assistance."

Because of Daviess County's aggressive stance against meth, the county is 
the prime recipient of assistance from the National Guard in western Kentucky.

Cain said the covert nature of investigations prevents him from disclosing 
specifics of how the guardsmen are used. Cain said one or two sheriff's 
deputies are always with the guardsmen during operations.

When the possibility first surfaced of using a military organization to 
assist a local police agency in the fight against drugs, Cain had 
reservations, he said. Those concerns were eased when Cain was exposed to 
the motivation and professionalism of the guardsmen.

"We've been able to develop a close working relationship with those 
individuals," Cain said.

The sheriff's department allocates part of a $1.5 million federal grant 
toward the pay for the use of the guard, he said. The money is shared 
throughout the year by law enforcement agencies throughout western Kentucky.

Kentucky State Police Sgt. Ronnie Ray of London, who is the marijuana 
eradication supervisor of the Governor's Marijuana Eradication Strike 
Force, said Kentucky receives invaluable help from the guardsmen in the 
battle against drugs.

The eradication strike force is composed of 17 local, state and federal law 
enforcement agencies who rely on guardsmen to provide transportation and 
manpower, he said.

The Guard has about seven helicopters that either circle above the ground 
to provide surveillance or allow law enforcement to rappel into eastern 
Kentucky fields during marijuana eradication efforts, Ray said. The Guard 
also helps gather and dispose of marijuana plants, he said.

When law enforcement officers are dispatched to remote marijuana patches, 
they are sometimes accompanied by as many as 200 guardsmen who serve full 
time with the eradication unit for four to six months a year, he said.

The guardsmen are intended to serve strictly in a support role, Ray said. 
They do not have the police powers to arrest and must be accompanied by 
sworn officers, he said.

Ray said he was not as familiar with the Guard's meth enforcement but 
estimated three to eight guardsmen may be used to perform surveillance on a 
suspected meth location.

Often in the winter when the guardsmen are less busy with marijuana 
eradication they may assist police agencies in other areas of the state 
with problems related to meth, Ray said.

Without the assistance of the guardsmen, many departments could not afford 
to crack down as hard on marijuana patches or meth.

Last summer the eradication force seized and destroyed 430,000 marijuana 
plants, Ray said. Without the Guard's help, that would not have been 
possible, he said.

U.S. Congress passed the Posse Comitatus Act during the Reconstruction that 
followed the Civil War. The act prohibited the use of the military in 
civilian law enforcement.

The act separates civilian and military authority. It was amended in 1981 
to permit increased Department of Defense support of drug interdiction and 
other law enforcement activities.

"They don't take any actions as far as arrests toward a civilian," Ray 
said. "They are strictly a support role. It just boosts us up."
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