NLV police await funds for drug armor

Diana Sahagun

Thursday, Aug. 17, 2000 | 10:34 a.m.

Drug lab busts are on the rise nationally, and in North Las Vegas, officers are often faced with a dire situation when they storm an area where they believe methamphetamines are being produced.

Currently the department has only two full-body uniforms and breathing tanks. That leaves two officers equipped to enter the highly combustible suspected meth labs while other officers guard the door outside.

The equipment is needed to protect officers from the explosive environment and the chemicals' health risks.

The department hopes to change that with a $300,000 federal grant it is seeking that would outfit the department with more uniforms and protective equipment needed to deal with meth labs.

The grant also would fund cleanup and disposal of the hazardous substances, a process that usually costs hundreds of thousands of dollars for each lab site. It would also include a special truck, to keep all of the safety equipment in one place.

North Las Vegas Lt. Ed Finizie said since January the department has seized 4,700 grams of methamphetamines, compared with 4,800 grams during all of last year. The street value is about $40 per gram, he said.

The problem with trying to combat the growing drug problem is that it is produced cheaply and quickly, with just a few chemicals found in any grocery or hardware store, he said.

"It's the only thing that you can create in a lab with a few bottles and small assortment of equipment," he said. "This seems to be the new wave of user production."

The labs can be found everywhere from motels, houses, kitchens, outdoors and in cars.

The grant also would pay for public education targeting Hispanics. Using bilingual Crime Prevention Bureau personnel and materials, officers hope to get the message out on how to recognize a meth lab and how to safely report it.

"(The Hispanic population) seems more reluctant to report a possible meth lab, because of distrust of police in general," Finizie said. "They would rather put up with inconvenience and dangers than report it to police."

The city also had a $144,000 grant renewed providing federal and state money to help fund two narcotic detectives and undercover officers to search out methamphetamine operations.