CARMEL – US Senator Charles Schumer is pushing the POWER Act – Providing Officers with Electronic Resources – aimed at creating a new program through the US Justice Department that would help law enforcement secure high-tech, portable screening devices to identify dangerous drugs like fentanyl in the field.
Schumer made the announcement while outside the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office in Carmel on Tuesday. He said the opioid epidemic has “ravaged communities” across the region.
The legislation, if approved, would authorize $20 million to create the
new grant program. The devices, Schumer said, cost between $30,000 and
$80,000 apiece, making them cost prohibitive for local police.
Sheriff Robert Langley Jr. said the POWER Act would “deliver much-needed funding to provide drug detection technology which will help us effectively identify lethal drugs and ultimately making our community safer.”
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