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### **Reducing Meth Use in Wisconsin with a Statewide Team**

June 2020 | Volume 13 | Issue 6

The problem was apparent as far back as the 1990s: The use  of methamphetamine, or meth, was on the rise in Wisconsin, posing a growing  threat. Easy to cook in home labs from cold pills and other household  ingredients, it was both affordable and very addictive.  

##### *The Big Difference Grant Funding Can Make*

According to Lt. Dave Remiker of the Manitowoc County (Wisconsin)  Metro Drug Unit, the unit’s investigative capabilities got a huge boost from their  CAMP grant. “As a small, local drug task force, we had no budget for  investigative equipment. This funding allowed us to purchase GPS trackers and  other things that led to successful investigations,” he said.

“By attaching the trackers to vehicles suspected of  transporting large amounts of methamphetamines, we could monitor their  movements in real time, without having to post officers outside houses or other  locations,” Remiker said. “In fact, they were critical to the Sheboygan drug  bust, which we worked collaboratively with the Sheboygan County Multi-jurisdictional  Enforcement Group (MEG) and the state’s Division of Criminal Investigation  (DCI).”

 By 2016, large quantities of the drug were also being produced  and transported to Wisconsin by Mexican cartels, and methamphetamine use had  reached crisis proportions. The cost in human life and public safety was huge.  Hospitalizations and deaths related to methamphetamine use skyrocketed, as did violent,  financial, and property crime. 

#####  Funding Support  from a COPS Office Grant

 To combat this epidemic, the Wisconsin  Department of Justice’s Division of Criminal Investigation (WI DOJ-DCI) entered into partnerships with local and federal law enforcement agencies,  health care providers, and other community stakeholders to implement aggressive  enforcement and training programs. 

 With the help of COPS  Anti-Methamphetamine Program (CAMP) funding grants in 2016 and 2018, they also  developed a statewide law enforcement task force network. This conglomeration  of local, state, and federal agencies provided many new advantages, including  better de-confliction and analytical case support, improved communication for  intelligence sharing, and the development of stronger investigations through  interagency cooperation.  

 Further strengthening the WI DOJ-DCI’s ability to respond  to the meth threat was its use of CAMP funding to support overtime for  investigators, hire a new criminal analyst, and purchase additional personal  protective equipment (PPE) for law enforcement working in meth laboratory  environments. 

#####  Over 322  Methamphetamine Seizures

 Armed with enhanced investigatory capabilities, the 34 multijurisdictional  task forces working in partnership with the WI DOJ-DCI were able to  significantly reduce the manufacture, distribution, and use of methamphetamine  in the state. In the first quarter of 2019 alone, these task forces carried out  322 drug seizures—collecting a total of 7127.55 grams of methamphetamine—and processed  three meth labs. 

 The agencies also seized 17 precursor chemicals for  manufacturing methamphetamine and arrested 239 people on a total of 698  charges. The 58 search warrants they obtained led to the rescue of 41 drug-endangered  children.

 Though the credit for these successful operations goes to  the hard work of the law enforcement personnel involved, the enhancement of WI  DOJ-DCI’s intelligence sharing capability has been critically instrumental in  supporting their activities. 

#####  A Statewide Drug  Case Management System

 Local, state, and federal agencies working cases under  Wisconsin’s CAMP grants enter information from their investigations into a  statewide case management system, which not only supports the sharing of  information about ongoing investigations, but also enhances de-confliction and provides  valuable information about suspects’ past narcotics involvement and  associations. 

Detective Olsen of Sheboygan Police Department at a methamphetamine lab seizure.

 This system also maintains contact information for law  enforcement officers who made past entries, facilitating communication among agencies  and frequently leading to collaborative investigations. 

 Typical of these partnerships is the Brown  County Drug Task Force. Comprising officers from four jurisdictions—the Brown  County Sheriff’s Office, the Green Bay  Police Department, the Ashwaubenon  Public Safety Department, and the De Pere Police  Department—the task force includes supervisors, investigators, an evidence  technician, administrative assistants, and two intelligence analysts, one from  the Wisconsin National Guard. 

#####  A  Multijurisdictional Task Force Covers Main Drug Routes

 Because Brown County covers an area close to the drug  corridors connected to Milwaukee, Minneapolis, St. Paul, and Chicago, sharing information  with agencies throughout the state is not only critical to the identification  of drug trafficking organizations, but prevents redundant efforts as well. To  accomplish this, the task force’s administrative assistants enter all  information—from case agent reports and the incident reports of local police  departments and the sheriff’s office—into the statewide case management system. 

 This comprehensive data collection, which supports  investigations spanning multiple jurisdictions, includes intelligence gained by  patrol officers during the course of traffic stops and their other duties as  well as the evidence collected by investigators, and enables access to resources  from agencies such as the DEA as well. 

 Most of the task force’s efforts focus on suspects whom  they determine to be larger-scale targets or who are operating among multiple  jurisdictions. When working these investigations, the cost of controlled buys  and other investigative expenses are split among agencies, making it more affordable  to sustain them until all targets are identified and locations verified for search  warrant applications. 

#####  A Successful Drug  Bust

An example of how these partnerships work is the  investigation of a drive-by shooting believed to be retaliation for an unpaid  drug debt, which was carried out by the Sheboygan  Police Department and the Manitowoc County Metro Drug Unit, the WI DOJ-DCI, the Sheboygan Multi-jurisdictional Enforcement  Group (MEG), and the North Central  High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA). 

Many hours of work by all involved led to the discovery of  an abandoned lab used for large-scale methamphetamine crystallization and  distribution. The WI DOJ-DCI agent on scene, who was certified to process  clandestine laboratories as part of the Wisconsin Clandestine Laboratory  Enforcement and Response (CLEAR) team, assessed that methamphetamine  crystallization had occurred. 

 During the ensuing search, the team recovered 1.75 pounds  of crystallized methamphetamine. Based on the amount of abandoned paraphernalia  they saw in the lab, investigators determined that dozens of additional pounds  of methamphetamine had been processed at that location.

 The investigators identified numerous latent prints at the  scene and matched them to two subjects, the first of whom had ties to a drug  cartel and has fled to Mexico. The second match was to a woman with significant  drug history related to a high-level drug distribution group in Northern  California. 

 The initial phase of the investigation has been completed this  year and resulted in state charges on 23 subjects for conspiracy to distribute  methamphetamine and related crimes, as well as the closing of a large-scale  crystal meth processing lab and distribution network.

#####  Community Policing  Enabled Efforts

 The WI DOJ-DCI attributes the smooth running of their task  forces to the community policing principles that underlie them: collaboration  and applying a problem-solving approach. 

 By their very nature, the task forces are collaborative  efforts. And their investigations are problem-solving efforts supported by data  from multiple sources, such as the state crime and hygiene laboratories, DCI investigations,  and the Wisconsin Department of Health.

 Working together, with support from CAMP funding grants,  Wisconsin’s DOJ-DCI will continue the fight to save Wisconsin lives and  communities from the destructive effects of methamphetamine.

 Said Josh Kaul, Wisconsin Attorney General, “As the danger  from meth has grown in Wisconsin, so has the importance of conducting long-term  multijurisdictional investigations that can disrupt the supply of that lethal  drug. The CAMP grants have provided significant resources in the fight against  the distribution of meth, assisting law enforcement agencies that are  collaborating to take down meth trafficking operations.”

 Faye Elkins          Sr. Technical Writer

#####  Further Reading

**Methamphetamine  in Indian Country****Clandestine  Methamphetamine Labs, 2nd Edition****Combating  Methamphetamine Laboratories and Abuse: Strategies for Success****Methamphetamine  Initiative Final Environmental Assessment**

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