Police have a new weapon in the fight against illegal drugs - a scanner that can tell on the spot whether something is one of a number of illegal substances.
Police demonstrate the new Lumi drug scanning tool, which is being rolled out for use nationwide, following a six-month pilot. Photo: RNZ / Jonty Dine
The Lumi drug scanner is 95 percent accurate in identifying if a substance in clear plastic packaging is methamphetamine, cocaine or MDMA.
Police said the tool, which will be rolled out to all police districts over the next two months, would allow more accurate and quicker identification of substances when carrying out warrantless searches for harmful drugs.
It would also allow police to better identify harmful drug hotspots and trends so resources could be deployed to where they were most-needed.
Police Commissioner Andrew Coster said the rollout of the device, which follows a six-month pilot, would be a game changer for front-line police.
"In terms of [officers'] ability to identify substances - particularly powder-type substances, crystals - which they come across often enough in the course of their work."
He said getting an initial identification of a substance would allow police to make earlier decisions about how to proceed in each situation, rather than having to wait for laboratory results, which sometimes took months.
Coster said police had been taking a health-first approach with people found with small quantities of drugs and the new technology would also lead to fewer arrests of users.
"Police will take prosecution action against dealers and then connect users with support services, trying to address both demand and supply side."
Coster said 150 of the devices will be rolled out across Aotearoa.
