Meth lab indicators and officer safety

PoliceOne.com ^ | 20 JULY 2006 | Scott Buhrmaster

[radar101]

Last week's PoliceOne report of two major fire and house explosions in Kansas City has yielded questions related to the volatility of Meth lab settings.

Although PoliceOne is aware of no investigatory indication that the Kansas City situation has any relation to drug activity, the sudden and extreme explosions that disintegrated these structures conjures up images of the kind of explosive results that volatile Meth labs can have. With that in mind, we felt it an appropriate time to share some insights into how officers can determine whether they're faced with a Meth lab setting, and some do's and don'ts related to officer safety at Meth labs.

The chemicals used in the manufacture of Methamphetamine pose extreme dangers to law enforcement officers in the form of explosive potential, physiological harm resulting from exposure and combative confrontations with highly agitated, unpredictable users........................... USER SIGNS......... Agitation ....... Excited speech ........ Inability to stay still ........ Paranoia ......... Signs of insomnia (users can go for many days without sleep. Asking, "When was the last time you slept?" may yield some valuable insight into the possibility that the individual is involved with Meth.) Severe anxiety .......... Confusion ............ Irritability/nervousness ........... "Pounding heart" ....... Dry mouth .......... Pupil dilation ........... Gaunt appearance ............ Signs of chemical burns from contact with caustic precursor chemicals and signs of burns on fingers suffered while covering a vent hole on a Meth pipe.

[MplsSteve]

Cripes, those are symptoms I frequently see exhibited by stockbrokers I work with!

[radar101]

Cocaine works a lot like Meth--only with out the short attention span and paranoid anxiety