--- description: A police officer working at a federal laboratory is charged with trying to make meth at the lab. title: Officer Charged With Trying to Make Meth in Government Lab image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdf54f6a1673afab4/6988600fe20a87d017a8cd6d/national-institute-standards-technology.jpg?branch=production&width=1920&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [U.S.](/section/us/) ## U.S. Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Officer Charged With Trying to Make Meth in Government Lab by [Alexandra Sifferlin](/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Aug 19, 2015 6:06 PM CUT  National Institute of Standards and Technology by [Alexandra Sifferlin](/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Aug 19, 2015 6:06 PM CUT A police officer working at a federal laboratory has been charged with trying to make meth at the lab. Authorities learned of the police officer’s activities after an explosion at a National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) lab in Maryland in July, [the Washington _Post_ reports](http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/crime/feds-police-officer-at-government-science-lab-tried-to-cook-meth/2015/08/18/e2f1851c-45c1-11e5-8e7d-9c033e6745d8%5Fstory.html "undefined"). The Post reports that the police supervisor, Christopher Bartley, has been charged with “knowingly and intentionally attempt\[ing\] to manufacture a mixture and substance containing a detectable amount of methamphetamine.” He resigned after the explosion. His lawyer has said Bartley wanted to learn more about the drug by making it. He was acting alone and had no intention of selling it, the lawyer said. \[[_Washington Post_](http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/crime/feds-police-officer-at-government-science-lab-tried-to-cook-meth/2015/08/18/e2f1851c-45c1-11e5-8e7d-9c033e6745d8%5Fstory.html "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4003464/meth-government-lab/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4003464/meth-government-lab/"},"headline":"Officer Charged With Trying to Make Meth in Government Lab","datePublished":"2015-08-19T18:06:03.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T10:17:28.027Z","description":"The officer resigned and is charged","url":"https://time.com/4003464/meth-government-lab/","keywords":["Crime","Accident","Maryland","Meth"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdf54f6a1673afab4/6988600fe20a87d017a8cd6d/national-institute-standards-technology.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alexandra Sifferlin","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdf54f6a1673afab4/6988600fe20a87d017a8cd6d/national-institute-standards-technology.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"National Institute Standards Technology","caption":"National Institute Standards Technology","creditText":"National Institute of Standards and Technology","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4003464/meth-government-lab/","name":"Officer Charged With Trying to Make Meth in Government Lab"}}]}] ```