Law enforcement cracking down on meth labs - KPLC 7 News, Lake Charles, Louisiana

Law enforcement cracking down on meth labs

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By Olivia Vidal - bio | email

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CALCASIEU PARISH, LA (KPLC) -

Law enforcement across Calcasieu Parish is cracking down on meth labs, and it seems like most meth lab busts are coming out of Sulphur. 

Since the beginning of 2012, at least eight meth labs were busted in the Sulphur area alone. Less than five were reported in other neighboring cities. But both the Sulphur Police Department and Calcasieu Parish Sheriff's Office said Sulphur doesn't have a meth problem, just very good watchdogs.

"There's meth labs everywhere. Just in Sulphur it sounds like there's a lot but it's because we're actually finding them and people are going to jail for it," Sgt. Jason Gully with Sulphur Police said. 

Gully said most of the meth busts are made after receiving tips from the public.

"We get the phone calls from the citizens that are complaining of suspicious activity and suspicious smells," he said.

He said patrol officers go out to the location and if a meth lab is discovered, the narcotics agents go out and take over the investigation. After that, an arrest is usually made.

But it's not just Sulphur PD on the lookout for meth labs. CPSO is also cracking down on methamphetamines.

"The only time we really catch people is if someone turns them in and says they know they're doing this, or we stop them in a traffic stop or it blows up somewhere," Calcasieu Parish Sheriff Tony Mancuso said.

And now that ingredients for making meth can be purchased at a grocery store, the drug can be made anywhere.

In recent cases out of Sulphur, meth labs were found in abandoned trailers, apartment buildings, underneath an overpass, in vehicles and in wooded areas.

"They will go to any extreme they want to to make it," Mancuso said.

Gully said it's important to find the meth labs as soon as they are reported. "You can't stop them all," he said. "You just have to take care of them as they pop up."

As they pop up, blow up or tipped in from an anonymous caller, cracking down on meth is hard to catch unless something goes bad. 

Law enforcement urges the public to report any suspicious activity involving meth.

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