La Cygne council approves purchase of drug-testing device
- Roger Sims
- 14 hours ago
- 2 min read
Press release
By Zachary Mathies, La Cygne Police Chief
LA CYGNE – To increase officer and public safety, responsibly utilize grant funding, and stay current with modern investigative tactics, the La Cygne Police Department has purchased a “Narc Ranger” spectrometer used in the identification of illicit substances. The device uses Raman laser technology, which measures how molecules scatter light, allowing for presumptive identification of substances.
The La Cygne City Council approved the purchase of the device for $5,250 at its meeting on Wednesday, March 4. The police chief told the council his officers "stumble across" a lot of pills during their work, and along with wearing two pairs of gloves to handle the substances, the spectrometer will make handling the pills safer.
This tool, in addition to a different style of spectrometer from the Spring Hill Police Department, was used during narcotic investigations last December and in January ’26 where bottles containing a total of 5 fluid ounces of a suspicious liquid were located. Upon testing the substance with the spectrometers, officers received a presumptive positive result for fentanyl and methamphetamine, which may have otherwise gone undetected without this technology.
The subjects involved in these cases cannot be named at this time, as they have not been formally charged. The department is currently awaiting laboratory confirmation from the Kansas Bureau of Investigation.
This purchase was made possible through a grant from First Option Bank, via the Louis and Dolpha Baehr Foundation and the Kid VanVlack Foundation14. Their support has been invaluable to the city's department.
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