PRESS RELEASE FIGHT AGAINST
METHAMPHETAMINE CONTINUES 8/31/09 Recently,
the Shasta County District Attorney Bureau of Investigations reported on their
efforts to combat methamphetamine as part of a grant through the Redding Police
Department. In 2007, the Redding Police
Department along with other law enforcement agencies, applied for and received
a grant from the U.S. Department of Justice Community Orientated Policing
Services to specifically combat methamphetamine in our community. The grant was to expire today, but a 6 month
extension has been granted. As part of the grant, the District
Attorney’s Office received funds to perform searches and checks on defendants
who are on misdemeanor probation for a methamphetamine offense starting in
August of 2008. Because of a lack of
resources, misdemeanor offenders generally do not have a probation officer to
monitor their compliance with the orders of the court. These were the defendants on which the
District Attorney focused. The grant
allowed for the District Attorney investigators to work about 15 hours per week
on this task. After much
research, the investigators identified 115 probationers who met this
criterion. Ninety-three attempts were
made to search these probationers.
Because so little effort had previously been made to check on these
probationers, some claimed not to even know that they were on probation. Of the
93 attempts to search, 39 actual searches were made with 27 being found in
compliance and 12 out of compliance and in violation of their probation. During the searches, 8 subjects were arrested
and 3 had new charges filed against them.
Of the 115 probationers, 30 could not be located and 20 could not be
searched because they were deceased, in prison or in jail. This program
provides some of the only accountability misdemeanor methamphetamine offenders
receive while on probation. Misdemeanor
offenses generally carry lighter penalties, meaning that the incentive is low for
complying with probationary terms such as completing drug treatment
programs. Also, misdemeanor offenses
involving methamphetamine generally result in probation to the court without a
probation officer or anyone to supervise or ensure that the offender complies
with the court’s orders. Felony offenders
or those in the Proposition 36 program receive far more supervision and drug testing
through the probation department. The lack of
incentive to participate in and complete a drug treatment program, the lack of supervision
for misdemeanor offenses and the serious danger that methamphetamine poses to
our community, led District Attorney Jerry Benito to institute a policy requiring
the filing of all methamphetamine cases as felonies except in unusual cases. The policy was implemented in mid-2005. Also that year, the federal government placed
certain cold medications behind pharmacy counters. Since that time, the number of
methamphetamine cases filed in Although
this steady decline is certainly welcome news, it certainly does not mean that
the fight against methamphetamine is over.
Methamphetamine remains a very dangerous drug and continued vigilance is
necessary to decrease its presence in our community. For
questions, contact District Attorney Jerry Benito at 245-6310.
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OFFICE OF THE
DISTRICT ATTORNEY
COUNTY OF SHASTA
Gerald C. Benito
District Attorney
Assistant District Attorney
Robert J. Maloney