Funding nearly triples statewide
Gilroy – A new four-county task force aims to tame the meth epidemic, bolstered by more than $1 million in state grants.
“All the counties have a problem – the suspects don’t stay in one place,” said Sgt. Chris Frechette, Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office. “Their criminal organization has tentacles that spread all over the place.”
To counter the wide-ranging beast, Alameda, Contra Costa, San Francisco and Santa Clara counties are teaming up, pooling grant money from the California Multi-Jurisdictional Methamphetamine Enforcement Team (Cal-MMET), a program of the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services. The new Cal-MMET task force will track drug sellers, clandestine labs and clamp down on precursor chemicals, from drugstore pills to farm fertilizers.
Each county was independently allotted $330,000 from Cal-MMET; collectively, they’ve scored $1.32 million in state funds. Across California, Cal-MMET’s budget has almost tripled, with new Regional Advisory Boards dispensing funds to each county.Forty of the state’s 58 counties received money, with the highest awards going to San Bernardino and Shasta counties: $2.3 million and $1.97 million respectively.
The grant should fuel the task force for two years, said Frechette, pumping funds into new surveillance equipment, vehicles and personnel. The task force isn’t waiting to act: though Cal-MMET announced the grants Friday, two Santa Clara County deputies are already training for the job.
Though methamphetamine is the focus of the new funding, he added, the stepped-up enforcement will net other drugs as well.
“We’ll run into people selling heroin, marijuana, cocaine,” said Frechette. “They always cross-pollinate.”
