Narcotics
Law enforcement personnel, laboratory technicians, crime scene investigators and many others face a significant challenge for reducing narcotics
trafficking and drug abuse. New drugs appear at alarming rates and the global drug problem is spiraling out of control. Raman technology provides
quick and accurate sample screening for law enforcement in the field, and at the crime scene. Valuable information is readily available, therefore
reducing the time of analysis and cost while protecting officers and citizens. Raman technology provides the perfect solution for rapid identification
of multiple forensic sample types either directly in the field or in the lab. With the ability to analyze mixtures the source and distribution of
narcotics can be determined from a rapid sample scan taken in the field. The current legal process from arrest to prosecution can be lengthy and
relatively costly to taxpayers. After an arrest, narcotic-specific test kits are used by law enforcement for positive indication for presumptive
evidence, but these specific test kits aren’t necessarily available yet. Seized samples are subsequently sent to a laboratory for confirmatory
testing, which could take weeks or months before results reach the prosecutor’s hands.
Current confirmatory analytical techniques for analyzation are being optimized for simplicity in field instrumentation. Though certain
technologies are ideal for precise laboratory identification, Raman technology is beneficial for quick and accurate sample processing for law
enforcement. The transition from lab-based to field-based analyzers allows users to conduct the same reliable measurements at the point of arrest,
reducing the burden on crime labs and accelerating the prosecution process.
