A practical way to find out which illegal methamphetamine labs were
busted on a daily basis. The information that I need is the name of
the OWNER of the property, and the owner's mailing address. I can
devote one full time researcher to collect the data on a daily basis.

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Request for Question Clarification by jdog-ga on 24 Jun 2002 14:31 PDT

would you need to know about the bust the day it happened? or are you
jsut looking for a database that would be updated often? I don't
believe that the type of information you're looking for would be
immediately available

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Request for Question Clarification by huntsman-ga on 25 Jun 2002 02:09 PDT

kablam,

Are you expecting the owners' names and mailing addresses (street
addresses?) to be posted here as an answer? On a daily basis?

- OR -

Are you looking for "sources and methods" that will let you obtain the
names and addresses yourself?

Thanks, 
huntsman

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Clarification of Question by kablam-ga on 26 Jun 2002 15:39 PDT

I am aware of a statewide database that is updated (supposedly
monthly), however i would like to know within a few days. I know what
I'm asking for is very difficult, but I would settle for a way to know
the following:  The addresses of busted labs within 7 days of the
bust.  State wide would be nice, but Pierce, King, Snohomish, Kitsap,
Thurston, and Mason County would be a very good start.  Let me give
you a direction to go in.  Any courthouse has an arrainment list that
usually will list who is being arrained, and what they're accused of.
99.9% of the time, that's easy to find out.  The address they were
busted at is not so easy.

Hi, 

I worked on this for several hours today and would have loved to get
back some of my long distance call fees, but what I found is not the
answer you are looking for.

Basically the State Police handle these, and they report the labs to
the Ecology department, who keeps track of the chemicals and clean up
needed, then they send info to the Health department, who controls the
contractors and gives a report once a month which can be found on
their web page.

Once a month appears to be a relative term, as the lady says
"Sometimes I'm a bit late". Getting the information from either of the
two earlier sources is not a "practical way" as you would need to have
the address of the place before they could tell you the ... address of
the place. :-/

On a "state wide" goal, this is obviously not going to work for you,
and you probably knew everything I just wrote in this comment. On a
local term things could look better as the newspapers of the local
sort often have a "lights and sirens" section that would mention these
"lab busts", though several that I looked at were not specific on the
addresses much of the time.

Sorry I wasn't able to help you further with this, but didn't want you
thinking no one was looking.

webadept-ga

Hello,

I did a little work on this question before I requested the
clarification and it got locked. Your best bet may be to keep in
contact with local police departments. You will often be able to
request police reports from them, provided you have a reasonable
explanation as to why you want the report. See an example at the
Seattle Police Department's website:

http://www.cityofseattle.net/police/spdfaq/recdinfo.htm#Police%20Reports

The information you're looking for would be in the police reports.
However, as it states in the above link, police departments have a
responsibilty to "[balance] public disclosure with privacy rights," so
your question may not actually have a concrete answer. This is the US,
afterall, and the accused have their rights too.

Since you indicated that you can allocate a full time researcher to
this in your original post, I'd examine the information handoff
processes from the Police and find the first legal way to obtain the
information.  Based on reading this thread I'd start with the ecology
department and work my way down to the contractors.  The higher up the
"information food chain" that you establish contacts the better the
quality of the information.
I think that with some solid contacts a fulltime could build a viable
collection process.

Kablam-ga,

Hi.  Just thought I'd add a comment to the good advice already given
here.  I can think of two types of people you may want to make contact
with, and ask to hire them on a consulting/freelance basis to provide
the type of information you are looking for:

1.  Crime reporters at major newpapers or television/radio news who
cover meth lab stories.  Clearly, they're among the first to know
about a bust, and may be willing to enter into some sort of
arrangement with you to pass along the information as it becomes
available.

2.  Law enforcement personnel -- either an actual narcotics cop, or
someone who works for the police in a press/public relations capacity,
and who has access not only to local-level information sources but
(presumably) is hooked into law enforcement information sources
statewide.

Neither of these professions are so highly paid that they would turn
down a ready-made consulting opportunity.  At the same time, there are
obvious ethical considerations, but in my experience, these need not
make the deal impossible.  Whoever you approach will need to have a
clear idea who you are, what your business is, and what need you have
for this information.  If it's all aboveboard, they may be willing to
take the offer to the necessary powers that be in their organizations
to get the clearance to make the information available to you. It's
worth a shot.

Good luck.

Approaching the problem from another angle, I searched for "pierce
county, WA" + newspapers and came up with the Tacoma, WA News Tribune.
  A search for "methanphetamine" on that site came up with the
following story:

   "Meth homes make squalid playgrounds Andersen, a Child Protective
Services worker assigned to the Pierce County sheriff's Clandestine
Lab Team, works to remove kids from horrible living environments. Last
year, the clandestine team busted 175 active meth labs. Poor school
attendance, early teen pregnancy and teen meth use are typical of
children in meth homes, Andersen said.      Published: Wed Jul 17
00:30:00 PDT 2002      Section: ne"

Although this lead does not answer your question, it does identify, at
least one, "Pierce County Sheriff's Clandestine Lab Team" which may
have the information you seek and may be able to provide it to you for
a good reason on your part....Since most sheriff's departments work on
a county wide basis rather than a local basis, this lead could
simplify the reporting process...

Good luck....It looks like your question will expire without a proper
answer.

seedy

Continuing a search of newspapers brings me to the Bremerton, WA Sun
which reported the following:

  "Washington, California and Oregon are ranked among the five worst
states in the country in terms of methamphetamine use and production,
according to the Drug Enforcement Administration.

A meth epidemic has crept up from the Mexican border into the Pacific
Northwest, following the Interstate 5 corridor.

More than 1,800 meth labs were seized in California last year,
including 235 high-quantity "superlabs." California seizures were
second only to Missouri, and the number of superlabs seized in
California far exceeded any other state.

The numbers are nearly as grim for Washington and Oregon. Nearly 1,500
meth labs were seized in Washington last year — third-highest in the
nation — and 584 labs were seized in Oregon, fifth-highest in the
country. "

   http://www.thesunlink.com/news/2002/july/07072methepidemi.html

If this information is correct in this story which was published on
July 7, 2002, it would quantify the number of lab seizures at about 30
per week statewide...

It seems the newspapers might be a source of information in your
search...

seedy