The Hampden District Attorney has unveiled a new tool for use in drug investigations in western Massachusetts.
A handheld device will allow law enforcement officers to field-test suspected illegal narcotics without coming into physical contact with the substance or destroying any potential evidence in a criminal case, according to Hampden District Attorney Anthony Gulluni.
“TruNarc’s deployment in Hampden County will enhance the safety of officers and the public,” he said. “Officers will be able to determine the type and potential lethality of the substances they are handling within mere seconds.”
The device called the TruNarc Handheld Narcotics Analyzer uses a spectroscopic technique to identify the chemical makeup of a suspected drug. According to the website of TruNarc’s manufacturer Thermo Fisher Scientific, it can identify more than 530 “of the highest priority illicit and abused narcotics.”
It cannot be used as evidence in a criminal prosecution, stressed Gulluni.
Across the country, he said, first responders have wound up in hospitals after coming into contact with suspected fentanyl.
“ We want to save people’s lives,” Gulluni said.
Being able to know the specific composition of seized narcotics will allow authorities to issue a public warning if a particularly lethal batch of drugs is in circulation on the streets, Gulluni said.
“If we can find that out through TruNarc, we can act a little more quickly and not have to wait for that laboratory analysis to come back which can sometimes take days, weeks, or months,” he said.
The $35,000 device was donated to the DA’s office by the Massachusetts National Guard. They’ve had a partnership since 2015.
“We are very proud of this relationship that we struck early on in my tenure and it has born fruit for Hampden County in our fight against opioids,” Gulluni said.
Guard personnel work behind-the-scenes to assist his office with lengthy and complicated investigations by doing such things as analyzing data and transcribing wiretap conversations.
“The National Guard has been integral in some of our most serious and important investigations in this county,” Gulluni said.
Since pioneering the partnership with the Hampden DA’s office, the Massachusetts National Guard has established relationships with law enforcement across the state to help combat drug trafficking, said Major General Gary Keefe.
“Fentanyl on the streets we look at, in the military, as a weapon,” he said.
According to the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, fentanyl was found in 93 percent of fatal overdoses last year where a toxicology report was available.
