I have been very proud of the dedication and tenacity of our own area officials in allocating resources and funds to meet this threat. Valley Sheriffs, Police Chiefs, and others lobbied hard to bring to the attention of federal officials, the tremendous increase in Meth manufacturing in the Central Valley. In 1999 thanks to the efforts of our elected officials such as Senator Diane Feinstein and Congressman Gary Condit, the central valley of California was designated as a “High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area”. While this designation certainly does not bring pride to our area, it does provide recognition at the federal level of the severity of the problem and as such brings federal funding to provide additional  personnel and law enforcement coordination throughout the central valley.

Recently, Aerospace Corporation presented a demonstration of new technology being developed to assist law enforcement in the identification of meth labs. The new technology being  developed is called the “Stand off Chemical Agent Detection” system. Everyone should know this new technology operates on the principle of examining the composition of the air at a given location and then looks for designated chemicals, in this case, chemicals used in the production of methamphetamine. As Neil Ives, from the Aerospace Corporation says, “we tell it exactly what molecules to look for”. The technology is non-invasive and “does not look inside your home”, it simply reads the chemical signatures in the atmosphere and can make a determination as to its location or source.