Vanderburgh County has displaced Vigo County as tops in the state for number of methamphetamine labs discovered in a calendar year, according to Indiana State Police.

State Police reported 133 such labs in 2002 in Vanderburgh County, which holds the city of Evansville. Vigo County totaled 105 labs, according to State Police figures released Friday.

The numbers reflect the total number of labs worked by State Police and local authorities in each county.

"It's really hard for me to believe that someone didn't beat us for two years. There should be a lot of people beating us," said Detective Greg Ferency of the Vigo County Drug Task Force. In 2001, 104 labs were worked in Vigo County, he said, tops in the state.

Vanderburgh County has similar demographics when it comes to meth, but has about 70,000 more people than Vigo County.

The number of meth labs worked in Evansville alone more than doubled in 2002. In 2002, the Evansville Police Department worked 91 of the 133 labs. They worked 36 in 2001, said police Sgt. Mike Lauderdale of Evansville police.

The Vanderburgh County Sheriff's Department worked the remaining 42 labs in 2002. The two departments recently formed the Vanderburgh County Drug Task Force and soon will be operating as one unit, he said.

Statistics for Vanderburgh County activity in 2001 were not available Friday.

"Due to the fact we live in an urban area, we don't have the luxury of waiting," Lauderdale said, and must take care of a meth lab immediately. He added that police agencies have worked with fire departments so authorities can respond immediately to suspected labs. "We investigated an additional 287 suspected and reported labs."

There are several reasons for the increase in activity, he said.

Patrol officers have been trained to recognize the types of environments that surround the labs. Two certified officers have been educating the public about the problem, Lauderdale said.

"There has been an education about what we call 'the dragon,' or 'fighting the dragon,' throughout our entire community," he said. "More people are aware of what to look for."

Also, people are teaching others how to cook meth or they are learning it off the Internet. In 1995, if a person wanted a recipe to make meth, they either would have to pay $3,000-$5,000 for it or pay some big-time cooker to come into the area to teach them how to cook it, Lauderdale said.

Ingredients are easy to acquire with the anhydrous-ammonia method of cooking, he said. Use of that method is why more meth labs are located in the rural areas of Indiana than urban, said Master Trooper Tom Hannon, Terre Haute post. Anhydrous ammonia is typically stolen from farms. Farmers store it for use as fertilizer.

"You're not going to find in downtown Indianapolis, a tank sitting around with anhydrous ammonia," Hannon said.

"The methamphetamine lab craze, if you will, has come from the West Coast moving eastward. We're on the west side of the state which is why we have seen it first and we have seen it more than the other side of the state right now," Hannon said. He expects eastern counties to see increased activity in the next few years.

Meth has been a very popular drug for many years in southwestern Indiana, but it wasn't cooked locally until recently, Lauderdale said.

Now, police have to deal with the Hoosier cooks plus an abundance of meth coming in from labs in Mexico and the West Coast, where the red-phosphorous cooking method is used, he said.

Repeat offenders, because of full jails and prisons, are getting "sweet deals" and are back on the streets after serving very little time, Lauderdale said. He estimated that 25 percent of their arrests are of offenders with previous meth convictions.

"I think that everybody across the state is trying to do the best they can," Hannon said. He agreed that repeat offenders are a big part of the problem.

An example is an arrest made Thursday in Clay County. Police discovered a meth lab in a trailer near Coalmont, in the same spot they found a large meth lab in July 2002.

Dollie A. Devoto, 42, was arrested on preliminary charges of possession of meth, dealing in meth, possession of precursors, possession of marijuana and maintaining a common nuisance.

She owns the land at 5661 W. County Road 1300 South near Jasonville, where the lab was discovered.

Police found it in the trailer behind a residence on both visits. Christopher Lee Siner, 41, in July said he owned the trailer. Siner on Friday was in the Clay County Jail, awaiting trial for those drug-related charges. His bail was set at $50,000, no 10 percent allowed. He could not be reached for comment.

"It was one of the biggest lab sites we've had to clean up," Hannon said about the past summer's lab.

Devoto wasn't prosecuted last July, Hannon said. She was in the Clay County Jail on Friday under $25,000 bail. She could not be reached for comment.

Suzanne Risley can be reached at (812) 231-4229 or suzanne.risley@tribstar.com.