Editor's note: A prior version of this story misstated the screener's ability to detect fentanyl. WCPO regrets this error.
CINCINNATI -- The Hamilton County Justice Center could be the first Ohio jail to use a high-tech mail scanner to stop drugs from coming in.
The VeroVision Mail Screener detects illicit substances from cocaine to methamphetamine and heroin to fentanyl. The device is already being used in jails across 14 states.
Hamilton County Justice Center officials are trained to screen mail, but the scanner would detect things the naked eye cannot.
The technology scans mail in less than 10 seconds, detecting drugs and common cutting agents through envelopes and paper, according to Director of sales Peter Safran.
There’s no word on whether the Hamilton County jail will purchase the $125,000 device, but Safran says the scanner is already working in areas like Buffalo, New York.
"They've seen their interdictions drop in their mail and also their mail volume's dropped,” Safran said.
