CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Area law enforcement agencies are preparing for Spring Break a little differently as fentanyl continues to be spotted in our communities.
Lt. Roland Martinez Jr. with the Nueces County Sheriff's Department said that the drug's popularity isn't slowing down anytime soon.
"Fentanyl is very prevalent in our county," he said. "We take a lot of calls for service for ODs now to the point where every deputy with the sheriff's office on the patrol site has it in their car, and has been trained to utilize it."
Since the nation-wide fentanyl crisis, NARCAN training is a must for area law enforcement because of how it can be used to counteract the effects of those drugs.
"Narcan is a tool to the job just like a carpenter has a tape measure and a hammer. We have NARCAN," he said.
Martinez said that his office receives calls regularly.
"In about a month, probably 10-15 calls of service that are related to either directly or indirectly to the use of opioids, or accidental overdose of some sort," he said.
While NARCAN training does help officers keep the community safe, Chief Deputy of the Kleberg County Sheriff's Department Jaime Garza said the tool has a sensitive shelf life.
"Let's say it's hot, it won't take very long for it to spoil, and we don't know if it's going to be working or not," he said.
In order to be effective, NARCAN must be kept at or below 77 degrees Fahrenheit, which can be difficult in South Texas.
In some cases, the drug does go bad.
"Regretfully yes, we're all human. Things like that happen. It's something that we try, and well, we don't want to take a chance," he said.
In order to avoid NARCAN overheating, officers make sure to keep their environments as cool and regulated as possible.
"It's with them while the car is running, the AC is on, and when their tour of duty is over, just like anything else, their equipment is brought out of the car with them and stored inside their residence, or wherever until their next tour of duty," he said.
Both Nueces and Kleberg County said they're adding patrol officers to the beach and high traffic areas for the busy holiday.
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