COPPING NEW SAFEGUARDS
Toll grows with two more overdose victims in Upper Darby County rolls out new device to protect first responders
Lt. Scott Bireley, of the Delaware County Criminal Investigation Division, shows how the hand-held Raman analyzer works.
HAVERFORD » In the township police department Wednesday, Lt. Scott Bireley set a package against a handheld device that used laser technology to assess what was inside – cocaine.
“Without opening the package, we can scan through the package,” the county Criminal Investigation Division official said of the Progeny ResQ 1064nm handheld Raman analyzer, a $50,000 mechanism that uses lasers to identify up to 13,000 different chemicals and controlled substances.
On Wednesday, the Delaware County Heroin Task Force unveiled the analyzer as its most recent tool to equip first responders for investigative and protective capabilities. They also displayed blue packets filled with nitrile gloves and KC Fluidshield PFR95 masks to be given to police and first responders throughout the county.
“There’s nothing more important than the safety of our officers on the street and today is about making them safer,” Delaware County District Attorney Jack Whelan said. “Today is about making sure that they have the tools and the resources they need in order to be safe if they encounter any type of controlled substance.”
He said it was his recommendation that officers no longer do field testing when they come across controlled substances and that is in part due to the danger of certain drugs like fentanyl and carfentanil.
“These substances can be airborne or they can simply be touched by the fingertip and they can overdose as a result of that touch alone,” Whelan explained. “Therefore, we are encouraging officers to use the protective gear.”
According to county officials, this year alone, there has been 185 drug deaths, of which 162 were opioidrelated, 113 fentanyl-related and three cases of 3-Methylfentanyl.
Carfentanil was described as a sedative for large animals such as elephants and with a strength 50 to 100 times more potent than heroin.
While no officers or first responders have overdosed based on airborne or touch exposure in Delaware County to date, last month, two officers in Montgomery County were treated at a hospital after being exposed to fentanyl or carfentanil and two fire company members and a police officer in Bucks County were hospitalized after being exposed to carfentanil, officials said.
“We know that our first responders and police are at risk to being exposed to carfentanil and fentanyl in response to an overdose victim or at crime scenes,” said County Councilman Dave White, a member of the county Heroin Task Force. “Delaware County recognizes the dangers that these drugs pose to our first responders who are on the front lines fighting this epidemic.”
Whelan said the funds for the Raman analyzer will come from drug forfeiture funds from his office or through the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area funds; no county taxpayer revenues are being used to pay for them.
Joe Hagan, deputy chief of the Haverford Township police department, explained that his 70-member force had been outfitted with rubber gloves and masks about three months ago due to the toxicity of fentanyl and carfentanil.
However, he said these additional packages and the Raman analyzer will be put to good use.
“It’s great,” Hagan said of the items. “It’s a quick response and it puts your mind at ease.”
White and his running mate, John Perfetti, both Republicans, face a contest for two county council seats from Democrats Kevin Madden and Brian Zidek.
“The failure of Dave White and County Council to create a Public Health Department that can focus on preventing addiction to drugs like opioids is utterly unconscionable,” said Joel Coon, a spokesman for the Zidek/Madden campaign. “Dave White prefers a piecemeal approach to a crisis that demands comprehensive solutions. Dave White is holding stunt campaign press conferences less than a week before Election Day exploiting the opioid crisis. This is nothing but an attempt to distract from further public scrutiny.”