By Leah Thorsen, St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Copyright 2006 St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Inc.
Local effort accounts for almost half of the program’s arrests statewide.
Despite the difficulty of trying to keep addicts from re-offending, the six Methamphetamine Response teams around the state are marking their first year of work with encouraging results, officials said Wednesday. The teams are made up of Illinois State Police officers whose sole job is investigating meth-related crimes. These teams were created in May last year in response to a growing meth problem around the state, including in the Metro East.
The local team, which covers the 10 Metro East counties in state police districts 11 and 18, has busted 217 labs since then, authorities said.
That seven-member team has been involved in getting charges filed against 331 people, said Sgt. Joe Beliveau, the team’s supervisor.
More than 412 felony warrants have been obtained against them.
“It’s not uncommon for them to have more than one case pending at time,” he said of those facing meth charges.
Those arrests account for roughly half of the 653 arrests made statewide, according to state officials.
Of the 331 local defendants, 54 went to prison and 28 were sentenced to probation, Beliveau said.
The cases against the others are pending, which means many are free on bond and able to start cooking meth again.
He cited the case of a Granite City man paroled from prison three weeks ago, who was arrested on meth charges two days later.
He was released, and has been arrested twice more since then, Beliveau said.
“Meth becomes such an overwhelming factor in their lives,” Lt. Mark Bramlett, a special investigations commander of state police, said of those addicted to the powerful drug.
But other statistics show that the local meth response team is making a difference.
It seized 56 guns, nearly 3,000 grams of meth in powder form, nearly 64,000 grams in liquid form and more than 12,000 cold pills used to make meth.
Said Bramlett: “Obviously, the first year has been very successful.”
lthorsen@post-dispatch.com | 618-659-3640
Methamphetamine Response Teams
June 8, 2006