Summerville PD purchases $35K handheld narcotics analyzer | News | postandcourier.com - Charleston Post Courier

SUMMERVILLE — Police volition soon person a caller instrumentality to assistance them successful what Police Chief Douglas Wright described arsenic an uphill conflict erstwhile it comes to identifying and investigating cause crimes successful the community.

The municipality purchased TruNarc, a handheld instrumentality that officers tin usage successful the tract to analyse and place fentanyl and hundreds of different narcotics. The instrumentality costs $34,415.12 and was paid for done national funds provided to the constabulary department, Wright said, including a $14,453 assistance from the Department of Justice. 

The instrumentality works by scanning straight done integrative oregon solid for astir cause trial samples, according to accusation Wright provided from ThermoFisher Scientific, the institution that produces TruNarc. Wright said that by not having to region substances from their instrumentality earlier scanning them, officers are safer from drugs similar fentanyl that successful immoderate cases tin origin overdoses if accidentally touched oregon ingested.

Major Frank O'Neal,who oversees the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division’s Narcotics, Alcohol and Vice Services Department, described TruNarc arsenic a small bigger than a compartment telephone with a lens similar a camera telephone that does the scanning. It tin place narcotics "within a substance of seconds," helium said.

SLED has 4 TruNarc devices, 1 each successful the Lowcountry, Midlands, the Piedmont and Peedee regions. O'Neal said SLED began purchasing them astir 5 years agone arsenic fentanyl became much prevalent successful South Carolina.

"It disquieted america a batch due to the fact that we were coming successful interaction ... not conscionable by touching the cause but if it became airborne," O'Neal said. "So ... instrumentality enforcement safety, our agents' safety, was the superior crushed that we decided to marque those purchases."

In Summerville, officers are seeing expanding amounts of fentanyl, often laced into different drugs similar cocaine and methamphetamine, Wright said. Officers are having to usage Narcan to revive overdose victims astir each day.

That's the crushed Summerville opted to acquisition the instrumentality arsenic well, helium said.

“Almost thing that we spot that comes into the constabulary section that is simply a powder-like substance has fentanyl successful it,” Wright said. “Obviously grains of fentanyl tin termination somebody, truthful we privation to person constricted vulnerability to our constabulary officers.”

SPD and Dorchester County Sheriff's Office person a narcotics team, which besides has Drug Enforcement Administration members connected it. But that squad works chiefly connected longer investigations, said Wright. It's patrol officers who are uncovering drugs each time successful regular cases, and it's those officers who volition beryllium chiefly utilizing TruNarc.  

“As acold arsenic roadworthy officers, they’re the ones that are seizing it each day," Wright said. "They’re taking it, you know, erstwhile they apprehension radical for shoplifting. People person it successful their pockets."

In summation to being safer for officers, it's much efficient. Without TruNarc, constabulary indispensable nonstop each but the astir communal narcotics similar marijuana to forensic labs extracurricular the department. Getting results tin instrumentality weeks.

TruNarc isn't commonly utilized by astir smaller instrumentality enforcement agencies, though some — including North Charleston Police Department — person one. O'Neal said agencies often can't spend them — adjacent SLED's astir caller 2 were purchased with national grants.

Fentanyl and different opioid usage is expanding not conscionable successful Summerville but passim the state. Officials from the S.C. Department of Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse Services said earlier this twelvemonth that opioid overdose deaths accrued by much than 20 percent statewide successful 2021. 

Because fentanyl is truthful potent and truthful addictive, O'Neal said, cause manufacturers tin marque much wealth selling little of it. They besides see cause overdose deaths from fentanyl risks consenting to take, helium said.

"They privation radical to go addicted, whether they cognize they're becoming addicted oregon cognize what they're utilizing oregon not," helium said. "You tin springiness idiosyncratic methamphetamine laced with fentanyl oregon cocaine laced with fentanyl, they're besides going to go addicted to that cause fentanyl."