Indiana State Police released their 2011 statewide methamphetamine statistics May 31 and Kosciusko County ranked third in meth labs seized.
Of the 1,363 meth labs found statewide last year, Kosciusko County accounted for 58, ranking it third for the most amount of labs seized last year. Only in Elkhart County, 71, and Vanderburgh County, 116, were more labs seized.
In 2011, law enforcement from Kosciusko County and the six adjacent counties seized 250 meth labs, or approximately 17.3 percent of the total meth labs found.
Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Department Public Information Officer Chad Hill attributes the high numbers to how the county has gone after meth and how educated the public is.
“In 2009, we were really pushing the tip line, and when people realized what to look for we had a flood of calls,” Hill said. “The public is now more aware of what is out there and what to look for. A lot of credit goes to the general public for the arrests we have made.”
In 2010, Kosciusko County ranked second in meth labs seized with 85, only behind Vanderburgh County with 95.
In contrast to previous years, 2012 has shown a sharp decline in meth labs seized in Kosciusko County. In 2012, KCSD seized 18 meth labs in the first five months. If the trend continues, the sheriff’s department could find between 36 to 43 labs for 2012. If the beginning of the year trend is an indicator as to how the year will finish, then Kosciusko County would be one of a 16 counties declining in meth seizures.
Hill finds it hard to believe that a drug as addictive as meth has virtually disappeared in comparison to previous years.
“With the mobile meth labs becoming more popular, it is much harder to find meth,” Hill said. “It’s still out there. I don’t believe that they would just quit, they have gone underground since the public knows what to look for.”
Kosciusko County has shown declining meth seizures for the past three years, while the rest of the state as a whole has posted record meth lab seizures for the last three years.
Indiana State Representative for District 22 Rebecca Kubacki can’t thank law enforcement enough.
“They have always been on board with trying to eliminate the meth problem,” Kubacki said. “We need to thank our police for aggressively going after the large number of meth labs.”
Kubacki brought before the state legislature a bill that would make Pseudoephedrine a scheduled drug, but that bill did not pass.
“I am optimistic that we will get a hearing again,” Kubacki said. “It all depends on who will head up the committee that would hear the bill. I am trying to keep the doors open on this issue. I do not want to give up on it.”
In January, the state implemented a tracking system for the sale of Pseudoephedrine as an attempt to curb the amount of meth labs being produced in the state. The Indiana State Police released statistics on the number of meth labs found in Indiana over the first two months of the year, as well as the first three months.
In the first two months of 2012, the ISP found 264 labs, which is a 20 percent increase from the 219 found in the same time period of 2011. Over the first three months of 2012, there have been 412 labs found, whereas during the same time period of 2011 there were 405.
“The tracking system has had no effect on the number of meth labs found,” said Sgt. Nikki Crawford of the Indiana State Police Meth Suppression Team. “We are starting to see more labs in urban areas like Vanderburgh County and Allen County.”
Indiana is on track to break 1,600 meth labs this year, but that is unlikely. There are months in which meth seizures spike and months in which they are relatively stagnate. During March and April, and September and October, the number of meth labs are normally higher. During the summer months, meth seizures are lower.
Crawford said counties that have had very little meth activity are starting to find large numbers of meth labs, similar to what happened in Kosciusko County in 2009 when in 2008 they found 28 meth labs, but in 2009 they found 65.
“Washington County so far is leading the state in the number of meth labs found,” Crawford said. “There is no rhyme or reason why meth use spikes in certain areas.”
In 2011, Washington County found three meth labs.
“We spend a lot of time educating and training law enforcement on what to look for,” Crawford said. “When they know what to look for and the community knows what to look for they find a lot more meth.”
