Clovis police adding new tool to get drugs off the street

CLOVIS, Calif. (KFSN) -- Clovis police are adding another tool to their belts to get drugs off the streets faster.

Two months ago, three of eight patrol community service officers were certified by the Department of Justice to do presumptive testing on illegal substances.

"I'm just doing my part and that makes me feel really good," says Community Service Officer Abby Tiscareno.

With the Clovis Police Department since she was 16, CSO Tiscareno started as an explorer. She's taken on many roles including court liaison, which showed her the district attorney's side of filing criminal drug-related charges.

When the opportunity to help expedite that process arose, she took it.

Tiscareno says, "I saw it as an opportunity to try and alleviate some of those turn downs we were receiving because we didn't have the proper results in to presumptively file a case."

Once booked into evidence, the team tests for four specific drugs: marijuana, cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine.

Sgt. Jim Koch says, "Nowadays with fentanyl as popular as it is and how dangerous as it is, we like to have a controlled environment and these CSOs were trained by the DOJ. They know what to do, they know how to do it and they're very careful."

By having CSO's do the presumptive testing, sworn officers are able to get back to the field faster.

Sgt. Koch adds, "For the community of Clovis that means, there are more officers on the streets making them safe."

The process accelerates the criminal filings of drug-related cases. Once the district attorney's office files these charges, the drugs are tested again in an outside lab for complete analysis.