N Wales police deploy Ion Track Itemiser for random testing

Random drug tests will be carried out in clubs, pubs and takeaways across North Wales. Police will be using a new machine which can instantly detect the tiniest trace of an illegal drug.

Pub and club goers, and even late night snackers, are being targeted with hand swab tests. The decision comes after the use of a new detection device, the 'Ion Track Itemiser',  at Llandudno’s Broadway Boulevard nightclub found more than one-in-four of 170 clubbers tested had traces of drugs on their hands. Of them only three had significant readings, and searches revealed no drugs.

West Conwy inspector Mike Owen said: “As the affluence of the area has increased then so has the use of drugs like cocaine and to a lesser extent ecstasy, which have spread to rural places in North Wales from urban areas. Our aim is to stop that spread now before it gets worse and we want to send out the message that North Wales is not somewhere to take drugs”.

The £25,000 tool known as the “itemiser” can break down the drugs found on a person’s hand. It can detail the exact amount of each drug found and approximately how recently the person has been in contact with the drug. People with significant readings can be searched and arrested if drugs are found. Anyone refusing a test will be refused entry, or asked to leave the premises. The machine has already been used in Wiltshire, Kent and Thames Valley.

Sgt Paul Williams, part of the drug testing team, said: “The accuracy of the machine allows us to know the exact amounts of each drug found on the hand of anyone checked. It can therefore differentiate between those with tiny amounts that are there because of contact with a £10 note or door handle with drug traces on it, and those who have had direct contact with drugs. If a significant reading is found we then have reasonable grounds to search for drugs.”

For the rest of this item from the North Wales Daily Post click here

For more on the Ion Track Itemiser from GE click here