BETTENDORF, Iowa — A high-tech drug testing device is getting some use by the Bettendorf Police Department.
The department recently acquired the TacticID-N Plus Handheld Raman Spectrometer, a handheld scanner used for testing unknown substances.
The device costs around $30,000 and was funded through a grant by the Scott County Regional Authority.
"The device uses a laser to make contact with the unknown substance," Lt. Andrew Champion explained. With this testing method, police can handle suspected drugs more safely.
"We can often test substances through bags or glass, so it doesn't require a direct contact with the unknown substance," he said. "It enables us to test once for thousands of different substances. So if we were to test a pill, it can tell us if that pill is ibuprofen, an opioid-based painkiller or even fentanyl, with one simple test."
Lt. Champion said that before, the department had no easy way to test fentanyl.
"We would have to send them to the state crime lab and wait weeks or months for them to come back," he said.
The new device gives testing results in 10 to 15 seconds and takes about one minute at most.
Lt. Champion added that the device has already produced results in the field.
"Within the first week of this device becoming operational, it had tested several counterfeit Percocet pills," he said.
The device will help police separate ordinary prescription pills from dangerous counterfeit ones and help them identify visual differences between the two faster.
"We'll immediately know that's the fentanyl-based pill, and see those differences visually," he said.
Currently, the department only has one testing kit that mostly remains at the station, but Lt. Champion said the department may consider buying another one within two to three years.
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