HAMILTON, Ohio — A new tool is helping Tri-State law enforcement agencies speed up drug cases in court.
The MX908 device allows officers to test suspected drug samples — a process that used to take weeks — in minutes.
“We've tested cocaine. We've tested methamphetamine,” said a Butler County detective. “We've tested several different counterfeit pills.”
The Butler County Sheriff’s Office got its device up and running in early April. The office received the machine as part of a statewide pilot program launched by the Ohio Attorney General’s Office in 2021.
The detective we spoke to wished to remain anonymous because he does undercover work.
“It has a huge impact because a lot of the laboratories that we use are seeing a little bit of a backlog,” he said. “Anywhere typically from two to three-week turnaround, maybe five, six-week turnaround.”
It saves departments money too.
“We can just do this test all on our own without having to pay any outside lab,” he said.
Ohio BCI has set up 12 “host sites” for the devices statewide so far. There are at least five devices available in Southwest Ohio, according to BCI. This number does not include any additional devices that departments may have purchased on their own.
“We had these resources through grant funding that we applied for,” said Jessica Toms, the laboratory manager for the Drug Chemistry Section at Ohio BCI. “This allowed them to get access to cutting-edge technology that they traditionally wouldn't have access to.”
Each device, and its necessary training, can cost $70-75,000, according to BCI, which can make them prohibitive for some departments without outside support.
The law enforcement agencies were selected based on the volume of evidence they had submitted to BCI for analysis over a 12-month period. Each device can be used by neighboring agencies too, so long as officers are trained.
The Ohio Attorney General’s Office says the goal is to have enough of these devices so officers never have to drive more than an hour to use one.
Speeding up testing can ensure cases move through courts faster.
“Individuals who are kind of caught in this court system, who may be battling addiction, making sure that they can get through the system a little bit faster into treatment faster,” Toms said. “Reducing that time between evidence collection and court results, for them, is key as well.”
The machine is portable and can be used in the field too.
