U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin spoke about the fentanyl crisis in a March 7 media call ahead of the State of the Union, alongside the Waukesha police chief, who attended President Joe Biden’s speech with Baldwin.
Fentanyl is an extremely powerful synthetic opioid, known for its ability to kill in small doses. The drug is commonly mixed into drugs such as heroin and cocaine, but can also be found in pressed pills and even in marijuana, police say.
PolitiFact has looked at claims regarding fentanyl and accidental overdoses before, when envelopes containing unknown substances were sent to elections officials in 2023.
According to a Nov. 10, 2023, fact-check, although fentanyl is dangerous, and it can be lethal in small doses, it must enter the bloodstream to have an effect. The drug isn’t absorbed well by the skin, meaning it must be snorted through the nose, ingested or injected with a needle.
People also cannot get sick by being in a room with powdered fentanyl, because it doesn’t easily vaporize. A source in the fact check said to cause toxicity from breathing it in, “You would probably have to be in a wind tunnel with dunes of fentanyl around you.”
But people can get sick if they touch the drug and then touch their mouth, nose or eyes.
In 2022, there were over 1,400 opioid-related deaths in Wisconsin, many of them tied to fentanyl, according to a February 2024 PolitiFact.
During the call, Baldwin made a claim that initially had us — and probably others — scratching our heads:
“We’re facing situations these days where you have to have two officers in the evidence room in case there’s an accidental (fentanyl) exposure. We are facing situations where first responders have been exposed to fentanyl at the crime scene and that is scary and we need to provide the support, the tools, the test strips, and all the training necessary to keep our first responders safe so that they can keep all of us safe.”
Why would two officers need to be present to test a drug?
Is it a safety precaution or something else?
Many agencies have policies to have two officers present during drug analysis
When we asked Baldwin’s team about the claim, press secretary Alanna Conley pointed us toward the Sheboygan County Sheriff’s Department, which recently shared its policies with Baldwin.
Sheriff Cory Roeseler said in an email to PolitiFact Wisconsin that several years ago someone was exposed during testing of a suspected narcotic, which ended up having fentanyl in it.
“As a result our testing procedure changed. First we started using two officers, one in the room where the drugs are being tested and one outside the room in the event that there was an exposure,” he said.
“Second we purchased a specific chamber to use to test the drugs so that it might limit any potential exposure and this chamber is vented/filtered. Lastly, we have Narcan readily available in our testing area in the event that there was an exposure where it might be needed.”
He said there have been exposures for at least one deputy, who was transporting a drug in to be processed, and another for a corrections officer, who was exposed during booking and had to be hospitalized.
The Sheboygan sheriff’s department isn’t the only agency that uses two people when narcotics are being handled.
Jim Palmer, a member of the Board of Directors for the Wisconsin Law Enforcement Accreditation Group, said in an email that “the practice of having two individuals work in an evidence room as a safety precaution has become increasingly common.”
He said that a second person can be used in handling certain types of dangerous evidence, according to standards created by the group. The standards also recommend the use of gloves, a respirator, a fume hood and having naloxone available.
Palmer pointed to the Madison Police Department, whose guidance takes the standards into account.
According to the department’s document on handling evidence and contraband, “the best practice is to be paired up with at least one other officer.”
“The second ‘safety officer’ will not be directly involved in the testing, handling or packaging of the drug, but can perform other support functions such as computer entries.”
Waukesha Police Capt. Dan Baumann said his department handles drugs similarly, given that so many different substances can be cut with fentanyl.
There is the evidence room, and within that, there is a smaller processing room about the size of an office bathroom. In that smaller room, there’s a hood providing a gentle amount of filtered air.
“An officer that would stand outside the room, and then an officer that stands on the inside of the room that’s actually collecting and packaging the evidence, testing it, weighing it and all that fun stuff,” Baumann said in a phone call with PolitiFact Wisconsin.
There is also Narcan on hand, in case there is a large enough exposure.
“Somebody with medical training is going to be present with you, just in case something were to happen,” he said. “We’re going to take all precautionary measures.”
The Milwaukee Police Department has a similar policy, according to its controlled substances procedures:
“The ‘buddy system’ shall always be used when testing suspected controlled substances, regardless of the type or quantity. Two members shall be present, one to test and one to witness,” the procedures document says.
Our ruling
Baldwin said police are “facing situations these days where you have to have two officers in the evidence room in case there’s an accidental (fentanyl) exposure.”
In Wisconsin, there is guidance from the Wisconsin Law Enforcement Accreditation Group to have two officers present, and several agencies have guidance calling for one officer inside the room where drugs are being handled and tested, and another stands outside to ensure the other is safe.
We rate this claim as True.
