A drug raid Wednesday at nine sites in Carson City went as smoothly as can be expected, said Dave Hosmer, chief deputy at the Nevada Division of Investigation and commander of the operation.
At the command center, two Tri-Net narcotics officers, a Drug Enforcement Administration agent and office staff members coordinated the efforts of approximately 50 officers, search dogs and a hazardous materials team from the fire department.
The officers streamed out of the parking lot before 6 a.m., positioned themselves in front of several addresses and talked to drug agents in Montana, where simultaneous drug raids were performed.
Within 15 minutes of the beginning of the operation, calls poured into the Tri-Net headquarters, with officers reporting successful arrests.
Within an hour, those arrested in Carson City, Dayton and Gardnerville - along with those in the Great Falls, Mont.-area - were headed to jail. Officers seized suspected drug-related material.
"This is dangerous stuff," Hosmer said of the cooking process that goes into methamphetamine manufacture. "When we know they are cooking, we need to be careful where we go and we need to have the fire department standing by."
Methamphetamine users also have a reputation of violence and unpredictability, Hosmer said. "The more cranked out they are, the more paranoid they get," he said.
When the narcotics team, made up of officers from Carson City, Lyon, Douglas and Storey counties, starting returning to the office after 7 a.m., they had a cache of cash, drugs, paraphernalia and weapons. A sample of the goods were displayed later in the afternoon at Tri-Net's office.
"We have a real problem with this epidemic," Hosmer said.
Four agents from Northern Nevada went to Montana to help state agents with five busts. They also seized cash and more than one pound of methamphetamine.