CORYDON, Ind. (AP) — Indiana State Police discovered 820 secret methamphetamine labs last year, a 7 percent increase over 2006 that reversed a two-year decline.

The commander of ISP's meth suppression unit said the increase from 766 in 2006 was a sign that meth cooks were learning how to get around a 2005 Indiana law that restricts purchases of pseudoephedrine, an ingredient in cold medicines that's used in cooking meth.

Police also are getting better at finding the labs, said 1st Sgt. Matt Bilkey.

"It's a combination of several factors," Bilkey said.

In southern Indiana's Harrison County, the number of the discovered labs more than doubled to 44 in 2007 — second highest in the state — from 20 the year before.

That didn't surprise Debbie Heazlitt, who served as project coordinator of War in Harrison County Against Meth, or WHAM, until the group ran out of grant money and stopped operating June 30.

WHAM coordinated meth education and law enforcement, providing information to residents and creating a tip line to report suspected meth-related activity, Heazlitt said.

"Without that out there now and without us continually plugging it and pushing it, they're not watching it that much," she said. "Those (meth cooks) who moved out are moving back in."

The 2005 state law requires pseudoephedrine purchasers to sign log sheets that authorities use to track large purchases, but meth cooks have found ways to circumvent the law, Bilkey said.

"The people involved have realized they can do what's called smurfing, which is breaking their buys into many smaller purchases at several stores," Bilkey said.

That problem can be worse along the state borders because meth cooks can buy pseudoephedrine in one state and then drive to the other to buy more.

Bilkey also said Kentucky's meth laws carry stiffer penalties, which sends some cooks across the Ohio River into Indiana.

"In Harrison County, we get a lot of crossover traffic," he said. "That's why we have a lot of car labs in Harrison County. They go to the larger metro area to buy the pills and then drive into the more rural area and cook in their cars."

State officials recognized almost immediately that could be a problem, so the Indiana Criminal Justice Institute began investigating ways to make the logs more efficient with a centralized electronic database to track the information. Two years later, however, the proposed registry still isn't off the drawing board.

"That looks like an issue that we're going to have to continue to work on," said Neil Moore, who was appointed executive director of the institute last month. "There is a funding issue."

Information from: The Courier-Journal of Louisville, Ky., http://www.courier-journal.com