Search tool helps Hoosiers avoid meth lab properties

Clan lab addresses

The Indiana State Police created a list of properties that were seized because of clandestine methamphetamine labs and have yet to be cleaned by state regulations.

Users can view the addresses at in.gov/meth in a list form or in a map form.

The property list includes the following information:

- Date of seizure

- County

- Street address

- Type of lab

- Location of the lab on the property

While looking for a property to buy or rent, Indiana residents have a new tool to avoid clandestine methamphetamine labs.

A recently published online directory at in.gov/meth shows properties in the state that were once the site of a meth lab and have yet to be cleaned according to state standards.

The online registry includes 9,194 properties across the state. In Delaware County, there are currently 204 properties, none directly off campus.

“This project has been over a year in the making,” Indiana State Police Meth Suppression Commander Niki Crawford said in a statement. “This is a victory for everyone involved.”

The list of addresses is broken down into each county, date and case number. Each listing has an occurrence report that provides additional detail of the seized lab. It reports the lab type, any chemicals or other items discovered, whether children were found when it was seized and contact information for the investigating officer.

The registry is part of a state law that takes effect Tuesday. State police are required to update and maintain the registry. After a meth lab is seized, the local health department condemns the property. Owners have 180 days to clean it in line with state regulations.

Homeowners must hire a cleaner, certified by the Indiana Department of Environmental Management, to test and potentially clean the home.

The property is considered contaminated if there is 0.50 micrograms of the controlled substances per 100 square centimeters, according to IDEM. Once the cleanup is approved by the health department, state police must remove its listing on the database within 90 days.

However, the law states that the lab be disclosed on the real estate information, regardless of its contamination status.

It is illegal in Indiana for anyone to occupy the property or for owners to sell or rent it until the home has been properly decontaminated.

“Cleanup is so important because there are health consequences to living in these homes,” Crawford said in an interview. “We have people that move into these homes [who] never had any idea there was a meth lab there because you typically can’t see the contamination.”

Crawford said people could develop flu-like symptoms, breathing issues and body aches from living in a home that was contaminated by a meth lab.

In 2013, Delaware County ranked second in the state for meth lab seizures with 109, according to the state police’s records.

“It’s definitely an epidemic from the standpoint of how it is burdening the overall system,” said Joshua Williams, an administrator with the Delaware County Health Department.

He said his department is responsible for going to the crime scene during the seizure, filing a report, condemning the property and then working with homeowners on the cleanup process.

Crawford said the state has taken a series of steps in the last two decades to curb the rising issues of meth in Indiana. The Meth Suppression Unit has doubled its full-time staff since 1991.

The Indiana General Assembly has taken steps, as well, including cleanup regulations in 2007. And in 2005, a law required retail stores and pharmacies to place pseudoephedrine and ephedrine — common ingredients used to create meth — behind the counter or under video surveillance.


The Indiana State Police's list can be viewed in a map form or a list form below. For more information, go to in.gov/meth.

Powered by Socrata

Comments

More from The Daily






Loading Recent Classifieds...