More photos: Utah Police Fundraiser

[Copyright Jeff McGrath] Photos taken at Utah Meth Cops Fundraiser, September 18, 2009

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Thanks to Briena!

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Actor helps 'sell' detox program
By Emiley Morgan, Deseret News, 9.21.09

Having played one on TV for eight years, Vincent D'Onofrio has met his fair share of police officers.

As time has passed, the actor has come to see their battles as his battles.

D'Onofrio, who has played detective Robert Goren on "Law & Order: Criminal Intent" since 2001, was in Utah Friday in an effort to raise awareness of a local project aimed to help local law enforcement officers.

The Utah Meth Cops Project began in 2007 after Attorney General Mark Shurtleff went to New York looking for a way to "give back to law enforcement." What he found was a detoxification program used to treat 9/11 responders and others who worked at ground zero that could also be used to treat law enforcement officers exposed to methamphetamine.

Utah is now one of three states that have the facilities to treat cops who have been exposed to meth. These officers are trained and equipped to deal with meth lab situations, but D'Onofrio said it is important to realize that these officers often walk into meth labs while responding to seemingly unrelated incidents.

"There's a call for a disturbance … and they need to find someone in a room and suddenly they're in a meth lab," D'Onofrio said. "They can't leave, can't go back and get their special suits. They have to get everything under control and finish the job."

Al Acosta, a 13-year narcotics officer who underwent the program, said these uniformed officers are often equipped with very little. "At best they have rubber gloves," he said.

Regardless of what they are wearing, meth lab exposure takes its toll, causing a variety of symptoms ranging from aching joints to fatigue and irritability. The program has been used to treat 56 officers in Utah, but there are still 120 officers on a waiting list and more still who may not even know the program exists.

"The key, since there is so much evidence of the officers suffering through the pain … is to bring awareness so the project is more legitimate in the eyes of city and state and so the officers and their families know about the program," D'Onofrio said.
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